Denmark on Wednesday welcomed a US decision to confine a planned visit to Greenland to a military base after the plans triggered a spat between Copenhagen and the White House amid president Donald Trump’s interest in taking over the island.
Denmark’s prime minister said on Tuesday that a scheduled visit by Usha Vance, the wife of US vice president JD Vance, to a popular dogsled race in Greenland this week was part of an “unacceptable pressure” on the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
The White House on Tuesday announced that the delegation would instead be headed by JD Vance himself, but that it would only visit the US Space Base at Pituffik in northern Greenland and not the dogsled race, a big annual sporting event.
“This is clearly a de-escalation,” Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.
“I think it’s very positive that the Americans cancelled their visit to the Greenlandic society. Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” he said.
Polls have shown that nearly all Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the United States, and anti-American protesters, some wearing “Make America Go Away” caps and holding “Yankees go home” banners, have recently staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Greenland.
[ Greenland takeover by United States ‘will happen’, Trump predictsOpens in new window ]
Similar protests had been planned in connection with the Vances’ visit.
“I think they have misread the mood in Greenland,” Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament, said.
“If they wanted to have diplomatic ties, I think this is the completely wrong way to do it,” she said, calling the visit “chaotic” and “disrespectful”.
Ole Waever, professor at the University of Copenhagen, said there had been widespread concerns about “a soft power operation and creeping American infiltration” that many Greenlanders had found threatening.
“The credit for the positive turn must be given to Greenland ... Caps off to them for that,” he said, referring to the planned protests.
Marc Jacobsen, associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, also said the changes were a relief.
“I think Copenhagen is relieved that they are not visiting the sled dog race or other places in Greenland,” he said.
The organisers of the dogsled race said in a statement on Wednesday that they had received grants from the American consulate in Nuuk.
Since Donald Trump jnr’s private visit to the mineral-rich island in January, Mr Trump has consistently talked of annexing Greenland and urged its residents to join the United States.
Two US Hercules military transport planes that arrived in Nuuk late on Sunday with bulletproof vehicles on board have left Nuuk airport, FlightRadar data showed.
Greenland’s acting head of government, Mute Egede, had labelled the visit a “provocation”, as it coincides with government coalition talks following a recent parliamentary election as well as municipal elections due next week.
Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said on Tuesday the delegation aimed to “learn about Greenland, its culture, history and people”.
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen has disputed the notion of a private visit with official representatives and has repeatedly said that Greenland should determine its own future.
Greenland’s prime minister Mr Egede has also stressed that the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.
Greenland is strategically important for the US military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island. A 1951 agreement between the United States and Denmark established a US right to move around freely and construct military bases in Greenland as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified. – Reuters
