Denmark's PM visits Greenland after Trump threat to seize it
Denmark’s prime minister has shown unity with Greenland by visiting the semi-autonomous territory following US President Donald Trump's threat to take over the world's largest island.
On Friday, US Vice President JD Vance staged a visit to the US military base in Greenland which provides a strategic location for air and submarine surveillance.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrived on the island for a two-day visit Thursday after saying the US government was mounting “great pressure on Greenland” to grab it.
Shortly after she arrived in Greenland, Frederiksen quickly posted a photo on social media, showing both the incoming prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the outgoing prime minister, Mute B. Egede, standing on her sides.
The caption of her photo with the two Greenlandic leaders consisted of just three words, written in both Danish and Greenlandic, with the message: “Cooperation. Equality. Security.”
Speaking to reporters in Greenland's capital city Nuuk, the Danish leader rejected the Trump administration’s claims to take over Greenland.
“The US shall not take over Greenland. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders,” the NATO state PM told reporters.
However, Frederiksen did acknowledge that Greenland is “in a very, very difficult situation.”
Before Frederiksen's visit, acting-PM Nielsen, who won last month’s parliamentary election and is set to form a new coalition government, said Denmark is “Greenland’s closest partner.”
On Friday, Vance told US troops stationed at Pituffik Space Base on Greenland’s coast that Washington plans to annex the mineral-rich region, if necessary, by "military force."
Vance criticized Denmark, claiming that the small Scandinavian country had failed to adequately protect the island’s security.
“Our message to Denmark is very simple ... You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change.”
The majority of Greenland’s 57,000 inhabitants are in favor of independence from Denmark. However, since Trump expressed his willingness to annex the ice-covered island, they say are not interested in joining the United States.
Last month, Egede, the outgoing prime minister of Greenland, rejected the idea of joining the US, saying, "Enough is enough."
“The American president has once again evoked the idea of annexing us. I absolutely cannot accept that,” he wrote.
“This time we need to toughen our rejection of Trump. People cannot continue to disrespect us.”
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