Denmark: Siltanews – News Desk
Denmark acknowledged on Thursday it had long neglected the defense of Greenland, a vast and strategically important Arctic island, after President-elect Donald Trump said acquiring the Danish sovereign territory was vital for U.S. security.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said this week that U.S. control of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” and did not rule out using military or economic action such as tariffs against Denmark to make it happen.
“We have neglected for many years to make the necessary investments in ships and in aircraft that will help monitor our kingdom, and that is what we are now trying to do something about,” Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told journalists.
The U.S. embassy in Copenhagen said earlier on Thursday that the United States has no plans to increase its military presence in Greenland.
“There are no plans to increase the United States’ current military footprint in Greenland,” the spokesperson told Reuters. “We will continue to work closely with Copenhagen and Nuuk (Greenland’s capital) to ensure any proposals meet our common security needs.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said late on Thursday she had asked for a meeting with Trump, but did not expect one to happen ahead of his inauguration.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, has been controlled by Denmark for centuries, though its 57,000 people now govern their own domestic affairs.
The U.S. military maintains a permanent presence at the Pituffik air base in Greenland’s northwest.
Greenland is crucial for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.
“I think that the Americans are quite concerned that Russia could actually launch or initiate a major attack against the United States, and that could be done from the Russian side,” analyst at Nordic Defense Analysis Jens Wenzel told Reuters.