America’s Vice-President last night predicted Greenlanders would choose independence from Denmark.
In a defiant speech during a fleeting visit to a US base on Greenland, JD Vance warned of threatening Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic in recent years.
He said Donald Trump was right to talk of taking over the territory, which has been under Danish control for three centuries.
But he played down the prospect of US troops being sent to take the island by force.
‘The President has said clearly he doesn’t think military force is going to be necessary, but he absolutely believes Greenland is an important part of the security, not just of the United States, but of the world and, of course, the people of Greenland, too,’ he said.
Mr Vance made the controversial trip to Greenland with his wife Usha – but they had to abandon plans for an excursion to a traditional dog-sled race today following local protests.
He dined with US soldiers at the Pituffik military base in the Arctic north of the island, held by America since 1951.
He told them: ‘Denmark hasn’t done a good job at keeping Greenland safe… We can’t bury our heads in the sand – or in this case in the snow – and pretend the Chinese are not interested in this landmass.’
Greenlander Jorgen Boassen is a passionate supporter of US President Donald Trump and says US involvement in the region will boost the local economy
However Mr Boassen’s position is not a popular one in his home nation and he claims he has been assaulted in a bar and had death threats due to his stance
Other Greenlanders, however, remain adamant that their country is ‘not for sale’ despite Donald Trump’s plans
The Vice-President added: ‘What we think is going to happen is the Greenlanders are going to choose, through self-determination, to become independent of Denmark, and then we’re going to have conversations with the people of Greenland from there.’
Before flying back to the US after just a few hours on the island, he failed to explain how Greenland would afford independence – which is the long-term aim of its new coalition government – without its hefty Danish subsidy.
Speaking at the White House yesterday, President Trump reinforced his ambitions, saying: ‘We need Greenland. Very importantly, for international security, we have to have Greenland.
‘If you look at the waterways, you have Chinese and Russian ships all over the place… we’re not relying on Denmark or anybody else to take care of that situation.’
In Greenland’s icy capital Nuuk, opposition to Mr Trump’s extraordinary annexation plan is growing. Meanwhile a chill is settling over the small minority who support America’s ambitions.
‘I’ve been assaulted in a bar and had death threats,’ said Jorgen Boassen, the most prominent of Greenland’s US backers, over a dinner of whale meat, reindeer and chips.
‘The police are investigating,’ he said, while electric-blue ‘growlers’ – or mini-icebergs – floated by in the background.
One of these threats, received on Facebook, had a distinctly local flavour: ‘There will come a time, when I will feed you to the polar bears,’ the bricklayer-turned-lobbyist, who believes America will boost the economy, was warned.
Vice-President JD Vance made a fleeting visit to a US base on Greenland yesterday where he warned of Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic
During his visit, Vance ate with soldiers at the US military’s Pituffik Space Base after having the itinerary for his trip scaled back because no-one wanted to meet the Vice President or his wife
Just a matter of weeks ago, Greenlanders paraded banners reading ‘Yankee go home’ ahead of Vance’s trip
Caps in the style of Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ hats were changed to ‘Make America Go Away’ by protesting Greenlanders
‘Greenland is for the Greenlanders’ thousands chanted in the snowy country on March 15
Daily Mail reporter Neil Sears in Nuuk, Greenland, ahead of the proposed visit by vice president JD Vance
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The political temperature has been rising all week. What was initially being spoken of as a ‘soft-power’ trip to Greenland by Mrs Vance and one of the couple’s sons turned into a diplomatic row.
It emerged the Vice-President’s wife would be joined by US national security adviser Mike Waltz – who was not officially invited – a plan described by Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen as unacceptable.
In the end, Mrs Vance would be joined by both Mr Waltz and her husband, but the visit to the Avannaata Qimussersu dog-sled race was cancelled.
It came after talk of demonstrations at the race held at the military base – vital as the closest point to Russia in America’s anti-missile defence system – and round the small airport at Nuuk.
A fortnight ago, Greenland saw its largest ever demonstration at the gates of the US consulate.
Some 2,500 people from an island population of 57,000 (18,000 of them in the capital) gathered to declare their opposition to a Trump takeover. Organisers had been expecting a couple of hundred protesters.
The demonstrators – mostly indigenous Inuit who form the majority of the population – chanted, ‘Greenland is the Greenlanders’ land’ while brandishing signs and placards saying ‘Greenland is not for sale’.
At the consulate, the marchers planted Greenland flags in the snow. Door-to-door surveys commissioned by the US to assess Greenlandic enthusiasm for a takeover produced a similar message: ‘Nok er nok’ – Danish for ‘enough is enough’. Mr Trump should back off.
Some 2,500 people from an island population of 57,000 (18,000 of them in the capital) gathered to declare their opposition to a Trump takeover
Vance visited Greenland along with his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance
Vance speaks at the U.S. military’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on Friday
Colourful houses dusted with snow in Nuuk, the capital of and most populous city in Greenland
:Sunrise over Nuuk in Greenland ahead of the proposed Space Base visit by JD Vance
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Yet the US President has not backtracked on his astounding insistence that America will acquire the vast territory of Greenland – and the lucrative minerals hidden beneath the ice – ‘one way or another’.
Vladimir Putin escalated tensions by saying he was boosting troop numbers near the North Pole and hinting at an Arctic war. ‘We are talking about serious plans on the American side with regard to Greenland,’ he said.
‘Nato countries are increasingly designating the Far North as a springboard for possible conflicts. The importance of the Arctic both for Russia and for the whole world is growing. The struggle in this region is intensifying.’
Such fighting talk is unsettling. Speaking in Nuuk, taxi driver Lars Fredrik, 44, said: ‘I’ve been asking myself this week, “Are America going to take us over by military force, are fighter planes and warships going to suddenly arrive here?” We’re all thinking like that.’
Fredrik, an Inuit father of three, is no fan of Denmark’s 300-year domination, though Greenland has had growing autonomy since home rule was granted in 1979. (Today, Denmark controls foreign policy and provides an annual subsidy of some £420million.)
Campaigner Aviaja Fontain, 39, a freelance translator and mother of three, believes Mr Trump will continue to pursue his ambitions.
Fiercely critical of past injustices at the hands of the Danes – including forced contraception for Inuit women and the huge profits taken from mines linked to aluminium production – she nevertheless insists: ‘We don’t want to be colonised a second time, by America.’
Her mother, retired social worker Hedvig Freriksen, 64, added: ‘I’m not embarrassed we haven’t extended a traditional Greenlandic welcome to the Vances. Trump is threatening to take over – we have to take a stand against that.’
A taxi driver who asked not to be named gave a parting shot as Mr Vance flew out. ‘I wish he’d been eaten by polar bears,’ he said.