 "US VP Vance to visit Greenland amidst tensions over Trump's annexation plans, Denmark criticises visit as 'unacceptable pressure'")
Vice President JD Vance will visit a US military facility in Greenland on Friday, putting more pressure on the autonomous Danish region that Donald Trump wishes to take over.
Vance, who has become Trump’s foreign policy attack dog, will go to Pituffik Space Base with his wife Usha “to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with US service members,” according to his office’s statement on Tuesday.
The news came only hours after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticised the US second lady’s planned travel to Greenland, which occurred before the vice president stated that he would accompany his wife, as putting “unacceptable pressure” on both the region and Denmark.
“There was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her,” Vance said in a video Tuesday.
Since returning to power in January, Trump has insisted he wants the United States to take over Greenland for national security purposes and has refused to rule out the use of force.
In his video announcement, Vance said other countries sought to use the territory to “threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and, of course, to threaten the people of Greenland.”
Trump has also recently talked about annexing Canada, saying it should become the “51st state” of the United States.
“Speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland,” added Vance.
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More ShortsBoth US and Danish leaders had “ignored Greenland for far too long,” he added. “We think we can take things in a different direction.”
According to the Arctic island’s outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede, US national security adviser Mike Waltz will also visit Greenland this week, while US media have reported that Energy Secretary Chris Wright will travel there as well.
The visits, presented as private, have angered Danish and Greenlandic politicians.
“You can’t organise a private visit with official representatives of another country,” Frederiksen told reporters.
The visit comes at a time of political flux in Greenland, where parties are still negotiating to form a new coalition government following a March 11 general election.
“This is clearly not a visit that is about what Greenland needs or wants,” Frederiksen told broadcaster DR.
“That’s why I have to say that the pressure being put on Greenland and Denmark in this situation is unacceptable. And it’s pressure we will resist.”
A self-governing Danish territory which is seeking to emancipate itself from Copenhagen, Greenland holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, although oil and uranium exploration are banned.
It is also strategically located between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up due to climate change.
‘So-called tourists’
The outgoing Greenlandic government posted on Facebook that it had not “sent out any invitations for visits, private or official”.
“The current government is a transitional government pending the formation of a new governing coalition, and we have asked all countries to respect this process,” it wrote.
In his video message, Vance said other countries sought to use the territory to “threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and, of course, to threaten the people of Greenland.”
A self-governing territory that is seeking to emancipate itself from Copenhagen, Greenland holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, though oil and uranium exploration are banned.
It is also strategically located between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up because of climate change.
Greenland’s location also puts it on the shortest route for missiles between Russia and the United States.
Greenland’s likely new prime minister – Jens-Frederik Nielsen of the centre-right Democrats, who won the election – has criticised Trump’s moves on Greenland as “inappropriate”.
Aaja Chemnitz, a lawmaker representing Greenland in the Danish parliament, denounced the US delegation’s visit.
“No one from the Greenlandic official system has invited the so-called tourists. They’re coming, using soft power diplomacy and also focusing on security issues and this is totally unacceptable,” Chemnitz told AFP.
Trump nonetheless alleged the visit was at the invitation of Greenland.
“We’ve been invited,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
“We’re dealing with a lot of people from Greenland that would like to see something happen with respect to being properly protected and properly taken care of,” he said.
Frederiksen meanwhile said Copenhagen and Nuuk were still open to cooperation with Washington.
“We are allies, we have a defence agreement on Greenland that dates back to 1951,” Frederiksen said. “There is nothing that indicates, neither in Denmark nor Greenland, that we don’t want to cooperate with the Americans.”
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