US Vice President JD Vance warned Europe yesterday to take US President Donald Trump “seriously” on Greenland as the President ramps up threats against the Danish-ruled Arctic territory.
Vance accused fellow NATO member Denmark and the rest of Europe of failing to do enough to protect the strategically-located island from the designs of Russia and China, according to AFP.
European capitals have been scrambling to come up with a co-ordinated response after the White House said earlier that Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.
“I guess my advice to European leaders and anybody else would be to take the president of the United States seriously,” Vance told a briefing at the White House when asked about Greenland.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to meet officials from Denmark and Greenland in the next few days, Le Monde reported.
An emboldened Trump has long talked about acquiring Greenland but has ramped up his threats since the US military operation to topple Venezuela’s ruler Nicolas Maduro on January 3.
Nicolas Maduro. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
Vance urged European chiefs to respond in particular to Trump’s insistence that the US needs the island for “missile defence”, with Moscow and Beijing increasing military activities nearby and the Arctic ice melting due to climate change, according to AFP.
“So what we’re asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that land mass more seriously, because if they’re not, the United States is going to have to do something about it,” Vance said.
“What that is, I’ll leave that to the President as we continue to engage in diplomacy with our European friends and everybody on this particular topic.”
Vance told Fox News yesterday that they had not only under-invested in Greenland’s defences, but also failed to engage with Trump’s argument over the issue, the BBC reported.
US officials are “actively” discussing a potential offer to buy Greenland – a semi-autonomous Danish territory – the White House said on January 7, a day after suggesting military action to annex it to the US was also an option.
Denmark has warned this would spell the end of the NATO alliance.
Both Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly stressed the island is not for sale.
Despite being the most sparsely populated territory, Greenland’s location between North America and the Arctic makes it well placed for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks and for monitoring vessels in the region.
The US already has more than 100 military personnel permanently stationed at its Pituffik base in Greenland’s northwestern tip – a facility that has been operated by the US since the Second World War.
Under existing agreements with Denmark, the US has the power to bring as many troops as it wants to Greenland.
Trump’s threats have infuriated Denmark, a long-time US ally, and set alarm bells ringing across Europe according to AFP.
US President Donald Trump. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
An invasion would pit Washington against Denmark and threaten to blow up the entire military alliance, which is based on a mutual self-defence clause.
A flurry of diplomacy is underway as Europeans try to head off a crisis while at the same time avoiding the wrath of Trump, who is nearing the end of his first year back in power.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “set out his position on Greenland” during a call with Trump on January 7 and then said more could be done to protect the “high Arctic” from Russia in a second call on yesterday, Downing Street said.
Vance was meeting British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy in Washington for talks that would focus on the Ukraine war but where Greenland could come up.
UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. (Getty)
European countries have stood in solidarity with Denmark, with key leaders issuing a joint statement with Copenhagen, saying it was for Denmark and Greenland alone to decide its fate.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned yesterday that the US was “turning away” from allies in some of his strongest criticism yet of Trump’s policies.
Macron said “global governance” was key at a time when “every day people wonder whether Greenland is going to be invaded”.
Vance, though, has long been critical of Europe over defence issues, saying in a leaked chat with senior US officials last year that he hated “bailing out” the continent.
The Trump administration’s new US national security strategy launched a brutal attack on Europe in December, describing it as facing “civilisational erasure” from migration and calling for “cultivating resistance” among right-wing parties.
In recent years, there has been increased interest in Greenland’s natural resources – including rare-earth minerals, uranium and iron – which are becoming easier to access as its ice melts due to climate change. Scientists think it could also have significant oil and gas reserves, the BBC reported.
“People do not realise that the entire missile defence infrastructure is partially dependent on Greenland,” Vance said on January 7.
“If, God forbid, the Russians and the Chinese – not saying they’re going to – but if, God forbid, somebody launched a nuclear missile into our continent, they launched a nuclear missile at Europe, Greenland is a critical part of that missile defence.
“So you ask yourself, ‘Have the Europeans, have the Danes done a proper job of securing Greenland and of making sure it can continue to serve as an anchor for world security and missile defence?’ And the answer is, obviously, they haven’t,” Vance said.