 "US Vice President JD Vance addresses the audience during the Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich, Germany. (Photo: AP)")
Denmark has welcomed the change of plans regarding a high-level US visit to Greenland.
Originally, Second Lady Usha Vance was supposed to lead a delegation, also comprising National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, to Greenland. However, the White House on Tuesday announced that the US delegation will now be led by Vice President JD Vance. The White House said he will visit the Pituffik Space Base “to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with US service members”.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Wednesday said that the cancellation of the broader visit to Greenland was “very positive”.
“I think it’s very positive that the Americans have cancelled their visit among Greenlandic society. They will only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” Rasmussen told Danish broadcaster DR.
Instead of a broader visit where the delegation would have engaged with Greenland’s society, the visit now appears to be limited to the US military base, according to statements from the White House and Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen.
The visit to Greenland comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has plunged the US-Denmark relations to a new low. He has vowed to annex Greenland at any cost and has threatened to invade the island for the purpose. Amid such threats, the news of Usha’s visit to Greenland had enraged the islanders and its leader, Mute B Egede, had dubbed the visit “highly aggressive”. Preparations had started in the island for protests.
The New York Times has reported that Usha was initially supposed to participate in public events, but such participation now stands cancelled. There is also dispute whether she was invited by the organisers or she had decided to attend on her own.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsOriginally, Usha and one of her sons were supposed to watch a dog sled race Greenland’s Sisimiut towns, but the organisers of the event said on Sunday that while the race was open to the public, they had not invited Usha or her husband, according to The Times.
However, a spokesperson for Usha maintained that she had had received “multiple invitations for her attendance to the Greenland national dog sled race”. However, the White House on Tuesday said she would not participate in the event.
The change of plans are being looked at two ways in Denmark. One, some see Vance joining the delegation as an escalation as he is not just senior to both Waltz in the governmental hierarchy but is also seen as Trump’s attack dog who berates newfound US adversaries, such as European nations and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Two, some see the limitation of the visit to the US Space Force’s bace as a scaling down of tensions for now as it now appears to be a strictly government visit.