U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials face to face discussion chair donald trump ambition Control Greenlanda semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Meanwhile, Denmark and several European allies are sending troops to Greenland in a clear signal that they intend to step up a large-scale military operation. Arctic island safety.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lok Rasmussen said “fundamental differences” remained after meeting his Greenland counterpart, U.S. President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday. He acknowledged that “we have not been able to change the position of the United States” but said he did not expect to do so.
Wednesday’s events do, however, point to a way forward.
seek compromise
Rasmussen said Denmark, Greenland and the United States had agreed to set up a high-level working group to “explore whether we can find a common path forward.” He added that he expected the group to hold its first meeting “within a few weeks.”
Danish and Greenlandic officials did not specify who the group’s members were or provide other details. Rasmussen said the organization should focus on how to address U.S. security concerns while respecting Denmark’s “red lines.” The two countries are NATO Allies.
“I don’t know if this is possible,” he added, hoping the exercise would “lower the temperature.”
He gave no details on what a compromise might look like, and expectations were low. As Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Thursday, having the task force is better than not having one at all and “it’s a step in the right direction.” It at least allows both parties to talk to each other instead of talking about each other.
Trump has repeatedly stated that the United States need control Greenland’s national security. He has tried to justify his call for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.
send military signals
Even as talks were held in Washington on Wednesday, the Danish Defense Ministry announced it would increase its military presence in Greenland along with NATO allies. France, Germany, Norway and Sweden have all announced that they will send The army is small in number This symbolic but targeted move shows solidarity with Copenhagen.
Britain says a British officer was part of a reconnaissance team for the Arctic Endurance exercise. The German Defense Ministry sent 13 soldiers, saying the purpose was to explore “possibilities for ensuring security against Russian and Chinese threats in the Arctic.” The company said it would send them on a United flight from Denmark as a “strong signal of our unity.”
“The Danish Armed Forces, together with a number of Arctic and European allies, will explore in the coming weeks how to strengthen their presence and exercise activities in the Arctic in practice,” Poulsen said.
On Thursday, he said the aim was to “establish a more permanent military presence and allow Denmark to make a greater contribution” and invited allies to take turns taking part in exercises and training, Danish broadcaster DR reported.
While the European armies were largely symbolic at this time, the timing was no accident.
Maria Mattihut, an analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels, said the deployment was “both a political and a military signal to the United States, but also a recognition that Arctic security should be strengthened more.” “First and foremost, this should be done through the efforts of the allies, not by the United States coming and wanting to take it over. So this complicates the situation for the United States”
Talk to NATO
European efforts are led by Denmark rather than coordinated through the U.S.-led NATO. But European allies are keen to keep NATO playing a role, Germany said, “with the aim of obtaining a well-founded picture for further negotiations and planning within NATO.”
Poulsen said he and Greenland’s foreign minister planned to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Brussels on Monday to discuss security issues in and around the Arctic. NATO has been studying ways to strengthen security in the Arctic.
“I’m really looking forward to announcing some sort of military activity or deployment within the NATO framework,” Matthieuter said. “Otherwise there is a real risk…that NATO will be paralyzed, which is not a good thing.”
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Sylvain Plazy in Brussels contributed to this report.