Denmark will strengthen its military presence in Greenland and is in continuous dialogue with NATO to strengthen the pact's presence in the Arctic, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lun Poulsen told Agence France-Presse today, BTA reported.
"We will continue to strengthen our military presence in Greenland, but we will also insist in NATO for more exercises and a strengthened presence of the pact in the Arctic" the minister wrote in a statement to AFP a few hours before a meeting between Greenlandic, Danish and American representatives at the White House on the future of Greenland, which is now part of Denmark but enjoys broad autonomy.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland will meet with US Vice President J.D. Vance and other US representatives, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at the White House today. The meeting will follow weeks of threats by President Donald Trump to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory within Denmark, Reuters reported.
Trump has said the strategically located and mineral-rich island is vital to US security and that the United States must own it to prevent Russia or China from occupying it.
Greenland and Denmark say the island is not for sale, threats of force are reckless and security issues should be resolved between allies. Leading EU countries have backed Denmark.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenland counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt are expected to show a united front when they meet with Vance and other US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Reuters reported.
"We choose the Greenland we know today – as part of the Kingdom of Denmark," Motzfeldt said in a statement released by the Danish ambassador to the United States yesterday.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen also reaffirmed Greenland's commitment to Denmark, calling the situation a "geopolitical crisis" and rejecting the prospect of it becoming a U.S. territory.
Trump, asked by reporters late yesterday, rejected Nielsen's statement that Greenland would prefer to remain part of Denmark. "That's their problem. I don't agree with them. I don't know who he is. "I don't know anything about him, but it would be a big problem for him," Trump said.
White House officials are discussing various plans for taking control of Greenland, including potentially using the U.S. military and paying a large sum to all Greenlanders to convince them.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the hardest part of the dispute over Greenland's future may be yet to come.
Denmark and Greenland had initially requested a meeting with Rubio, hoping to hold a discussion between senior diplomats to resolve the crisis between the two NATO allies, Reuters recalls. But Denmark's top diplomat Rasmussen indicated that Vance also wanted to participate and that the vice president would host the meeting at the White House.