GREENLAND has said “we are ready to talk” after Donald Trump refused to rule out taking the Nordic territory by force.
Prime Minister Múte Egede said he is ready to discuss the future of Greenland – but has issued a stern warning to Trump.
EPAGreenland’s Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede holds a joint press conference with Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen[/caption]
GettyDonald Trump refused to rule out taking the Nordic territory by force[/caption]
ReutersA view of the US’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland[/caption]
Speaking from a press conference in Denmark, Egede said he was open to speaking to Trump and discussing policies of mutual interest that would benefit both Greenland and America.
Trump seems to serious about taking control over Greenland as he revealed his territorial ambitions after winning the elections.
However, Egede issued the president-elect a stern warning.
He said: “We are ready to talk. Cooperation is built on dialogue and finding solutions together.
“We have a desire for independence, a desire to be the master of our own house. This is something everyone should respect.
“Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic.”
The event came after Danish PM Mette Frederiksen demanded crunch talks with Trump after his latest remarks, insisting: “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.”
Frederiksen said: “There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either.”
Meanwhile, Denmark sent private messages to Trump’s team in a bid to discuss the US military presence on the island, Axios reports.
As an autonomous territory of Denmark, Greenland has its own ruling body – but people from the island have Danish citizenship.
But Denmark is responsible for Greenland’s protection and their army would be the army to mobilise against the Americans.
Its defence budget is around £6billion – 100 times smaller than the eye-watering £750billion America splashes on defence.
Trump, who won a sweeping victory in the November elections, said that the US ownership of Greenland is an “absolute necessity” to protect global “national security and freedom”.
He wrote on Truth Social: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Far from being a useless block of ice, Greenland is a vital strategic asset bursting with natural resources and sits bang in the middle of the main Arctic trade routes.
During his first term in 2019, Trump suggested that the US should buy Greenland – the largest island in the world that is not a continent – given its strategic importance.
He even appointed a team to prepare options, including a long-term lease deal.
But the idea was roundly rejected by Denmark as well as by the island’s own authorities.
The incoming US leader has now refused to rule out taking Greenland by force after doubling down on his intention to buy the territory from Denmark.
Meanwhile, Trump Jr made a trip to Greenland last week, fueling fears Trump is serious about sna[p[ig up the Nordic territory.
Footage of Trump Jr strolling across a snowy Nuuk tarmac aired on Danish TV on Tuesday, confirming the trip many had speculated about.
According to Greenland’s foreign affairs department, this is an unofficial visit set to last just a few hours, with no formal meetings planned.
But that hasn’t stopped chatter that Trump’s eldest son could be window-shopping Greenland for the family’s next big deal.
On Truth Social, Trump couldn’t resist hyping his son’s trip.
He wrote on Monday: “I am hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA’.
“My son, Don Jr, and various representatives will be travelling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights.
“Greenland is an incredible place, and the people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation.
“We will protect it, and cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
ReutersDonald Trump Jr. arrived in Greenland on Tuesday[/caption]
EMIL STACH/RITZAU SCANPIX/REUTERSDonald Trump Jr arrived in Greenland on Tuesday in his father’s plane for a visit he insisted was purely as a tourist[/caption]
WHY DOES TRUMP WANT GREENLAND?
Greenland sits right in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and is among the key trade arteries in the region.
The Arctic is increasingly the object of a struggle between international superpowers.
Russia and China have both ramped up efforts to take control of the region, and there are concerns that America has been caught off-guard.
Russia, which owns 40 per cent of the Arctic coastline, has been particularly proactive in cranking up military activity.
It is currently building the world’s largest fleet of nuclear icebreakers that will dominate the Arctic waters and open up new routes shipping in the winter.
China’s plan to take control of the Arctic is dubbed the “Polar Silk Road”, and was formally announced in 2018.
The project will open up trade and energy routes across Russia’s far north.
ISLE TAKE THAT!
EXCLUSIVE by Patrick Harrington, Foreign News Reporter
Trump could storm Greenland and claim it within 24 hours in the “world’s shortest war”, analysts have revealed.
If Trump did invade, America’s military might would end the war in a day, politics professor Anthony Glees told The Sun.
Speaking to The Sun, Glees said Trump will be surrounded by “people who think he is great” – and it means he will be able to go ahead with any wild ideas he has.
Glees said: “In other words, we have to take him seriously.
“And if Trump wanted to take Greenland by force, he could do it in 24 hours.”
Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Politico that “there is no defensive capacity in Greenland”.
And it means it would be “the shortest war in the world”.
The conflict would present an “unchartered” situation after the US entered a pact with Denmark in 1951 to defend Greenland against any attack.
The US has a nuclear base on the island that is constantly manned by troops.
Kristian Søby Kristensen, a military researcher at the University of Copenhagen, said: “Who would the Americans be fighting? Their own military?”
Glees said it was likely that, in the event of a US invasion, “there would be no military response to it because it is unthinkable that any Nato member would attack the US”.
Alexey Maishev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty ImagesChina’s Xi Jinping and Putin are both actively aiming to assert control in the Arctic – to which Greenland is key[/caption]
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