Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen says her country remains ‘Greenland’s closest partner’ during a three-day trip to Greenland.
Denmark’s prime minister has pledged to support Greenland against US President Donald Trump’s expressions of interest in acquiring the Danish semi-autonomous territory as she landed in Nuuk for talks with its incoming government.
Mette Frederiksen began her three-day trip to the vast Arctic island less than a week after a visit to the territory by US Vice President JD Vance drew a frosty reception from authorities in Denmark and Greenland.
“The US shall not take over Greenland. Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders,” Frederiksen told reporters in the capital Nuuk on Wednesday.
The Danish leader said she wanted to support Greenland “in a very, very difficult situation”.
Ahead of her visit, she had said she aimed to strengthen Copenhagen’s ties with the island and emphasised the importance of respectful cooperation at a time of what she described as “great pressure on Greenland”.
Greenland’s incoming Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who won last month’s parliamentary election and will form a coalition government, has welcomed Frederiksen’s trip, saying that Denmark remains “Greenland’s closest partner”.
Frederiksen promised to do what she could to ensure equal rights to Greenlanders and Danes within the Danish realm.
“Most of all, we need to discuss the foreign and security policy situation, geopolitics, and how we approach this very, very difficult task together because that is what it is all about now.”
Nielsen’s new coalition is expected to formally take office on April 7.
In addition to meeting Nielsen, Frederiksen is also expected to meet with the future Naalakkersuisut, the Cabinet, during her visit, which is expected to last through Friday.
Greenland is a mineral-rich, strategically critical island that is becoming more accessible because of climate change. Trump has said that the landmass is critical to US security.
The country offers the shortest route from North America to Europe, giving the US a strategic upper hand for its military and ballistic missile early-warning system.
‘Respectful’ relationship
Relations between Greenland and Denmark have been strained after revelations in recent years of historical mistreatment of Greenlanders under colonial rule. Trump’s interest in controlling Greenland, part of a growing international focus on competition for influence in the Arctic, has prompted Denmark to step up efforts to improve relations with the island.
Nielsen told Reuters news agency late on Monday that Greenland would strengthen its ties with Denmark until it could fulfil its ultimate wish to become a sovereign nation.
Experts have said that the US’s interest in a takeover has actually reinforced Greenland’s ties with Copenhagen.
Richard Powell, professor of Arctic studies at the University of Cambridge, told Al Jazeera that while independence was still a “broadly popular long-term goal”, Trump’s interest in the country has “consolidated Greenland’s future within the Kingdom of Denmark, at least for the next couple of decades”.
Greenland wishes to establish a “respectful” relationship with the United States, Nielsen said.
“Talking about annexation and talking about acquiring Greenland and not respecting the sovereignty is not respectful. So let’s start by being respectful to each other and build up a great partnership on everything,” he said.
Frederiksen’s visit is primarily about signalling support at a time of intense scrutiny, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an academic at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
“It is important for Denmark to signal to Greenland that Denmark is Greenland’s closest friend and ally – and to the US that it stands behind Greenland,” he said.
During his visit to a US military base in northern Greenland last Friday, Vance accused Denmark of not doing a good job of keeping the island safe and suggested the US would better protect the strategically located territory.
Frederiksen, who has said it is up to the people of Greenland to decide their own future, called Vance’s description of Denmark “not fair”.
Opinion polls show that a majority of Greenland’s 57,000 inhabitants support independence from Denmark, but many oppose seeking independence too quickly, fearing their island could become worse off and expose itself to US interests.