US Vice President JD Vance said Greenland is “critical” to protecting the US and the world against potential Russian or Chinese missile attacks – and that Europe and Denmark “have not done a good job” of securing the area.

Vance told Fox News that they had not only invested little in protecting Greenland, but also failed to engage with President Donald Trump’s argument on the issue.

US officials are “actively” discussing a possible offer to buy Greenland – a semi-autonomous Danish territory, the White House said on Wednesday, a day after suggesting that military action to annex it by the US was also an option.

Denmark, another NATO member, has warned that this would mark the end of the alliance, the Telegraph reports.

Both Greenland and Denmark have repeatedly stressed that the island is not for sale.

Despite being the least populated territory, Greenland’s location between North America and the Arctic makes it well-positioned for early warning systems in the event of missile attacks and for monitoring ships in the region.

Pituffik Space Base, formerly known as Thule Air Base, has been operated by the US since World War II.

In recent years, there has also been a growing 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 there may also be significant oil and gas reserves.

“People don’t realize that the entire missile defense infrastructure depends in part on Greenland,” Vance said in his interview Wednesday.

“God forbid the Russians and the Chinese – I’m not saying they will – but if, God forbid, someone launched a nuclear missile at our continent, they launched a nuclear missile at Europe, Greenland is a critical part of that missile defense,” he added.

“So you ask yourself, ‘have the Europeans, the Danes, done a proper job of securing Greenland and making sure that it can continue to serve as an anchor for world security and missile defense?’ And the answer is definitely not,” he stressed.

Concerns about the future of the territory resurfaced after Trump’s use of military force against Venezuela on Saturday to depose its president Nicolás Maduro.

Trump previously made an offer to buy the island in 2019, during his first presidential term, only to be told it was not for sale.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday he would hold talks with Denmark next week.

The day before, European leaders issued a joint statement supporting Denmark.

“Greenland belongs to its people and only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations,” the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Denmark said in a joint statement.

Stressing that they were as interested as the US in Arctic security, the European signatories said this must be achieved by NATO allies, including the US, “collectively”.

They also called for “the protection of the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.”

Aaja Chemnitz, one of two members of the Danish parliament representing Greenland, told the BBC that the comments from the Trump administration were “a clear threat”.

“It is completely disrespectful for the US to not rule out annexing our country and annex another NATO ally,” she said.

But Chemnitz said he saw this as unlikely and that instead, “what we will see is that they will put pressure on us in order to make sure that they take Greenland over time.”

Aleqatsiaq Peary, a 42-year-old Inuit hunter living in Greenland’s remote northern town of Qaanaaq, seemed indifferent to the potential for American ownership.

“It would be a transition from one owner to another, from one occupier to another,” he told the BBC.

“We are a colony under Denmark. We are already losing a lot from being under Danish government,” he added.

Saying he had “no time for Trump,” he added that people were “in need.”

Hunters like him, he explained, used to hunt with dogs on the sea ice and fish “but the sea ice is melting and the hunters can no longer make a living,” he added. /Telegraph/