In the shadow of Cold War mentality returning to the Arctic Circle, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued a stern warning on Saturday: Although US President Trump has tempered his recent rhetoric, he remains "very serious" about his ambition to annex Greenland.
Trump has long publicly expressed his desire to acquire the self-governing Danish territory, citing its core strategic position and to counter alleged threats from Russia and China. Although Copenhagen, Moscow and Beijing have dismissed such claims and Trump initially did not even rule out the use of military force, last month he announced that he had reached some kind of "framework" agreement with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
However, Frederiksen told the Munich Security Conference that the threat was far from over, describing such "pressure" on Greenland as "unacceptable".
"Unfortunately, the president of the United States remains very serious," Frederiksen said. "The people of Greenland have never been threatened by anyone before."
Although Copenhagen expressed its willingness to cooperate with Washington and allow the United States to expand its military presence there, Frederiksen clearly drew a bottom line. After a 45-minute closed-door meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, she stressed that sovereignty and territorial integrity were non-negotiable.
"We have a working group now. We will try to see if we can find a solution and we will do everything we can, but of course there are red lines that cannot be crossed," she said.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also joined in the condemnation, saying it was "outrageous" that Greenlanders should be threatened by NATO members.
The diplomatic earthquake triggered by Greenland is shaking the entire transatlantic alliance. Frederiksen warned last month that the threat of annexation could undermine "everything" in the system, including NATO. French President Emmanuel Macron also criticized this, saying that the so-called "Greenland moment" is conclusive evidence that the US government is "openly anti-European".
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