Hours after US President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his intention to buy the Arctic territory, the Danish government announced a massive increase in defense funding for Greenland.
According to Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, the package is worth at least $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion), or a “double-digit billion sum” in krone.
He called the timing of the announcement an “irony of fate.” On Monday, Trump declared that the US has an “absolute necessity” to own and govern the massive island.
Being on the quickest path from North America to Europe, Greenland, an autonomous Danish province, is strategically significant for the US and is home to a sizable US space complex. There are significant mineral resources there.
According to Poulsen, the package would enable the acquisition of two additional dog sled teams, two new long-range drones, and two new inspection ships.
Additionally, it would provide funds for upgrading one of Greenland’s three primary civilian airports to accommodate F-35 supersonic fighter aircraft and more personnel at Arctic Command in the capital, Nuuk.
He stated, “We are planning a greater presence in the Arctic, as we have not invested enough there for many years.”
Although the defense minister did not specify the package’s exact value, Danish media speculated that it would be between 12 and 15 billion kroner.
“For purposes of National Security and Freedom around the World, the United States of America considers that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute need,” Trump stated on his social media platform Truth Social the day before the declaration.
“We are not for sale” is how Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede reacted to Trump’s remarks.
However, he said Greenlanders should remain receptive to commerce and collaboration, particularly with their neighbors.
According to analysts, the plan has been on the table for a while and is not necessarily a direct reaction to Trump’s statement.
They claim that although Denmark has been extremely slow to increase its military capabilities in Greenland thus far, US demands for more control are expected to increase if the nation cannot defend the surrounding waters from Russian and Chinese intrusions.
The Army According to Maj Steen Kjaergaard of the Danish Defence Academy, Trump might have wanted to coerce Denmark into making this decision.
Trump’s renewed emphasis on the necessity of air and marine control around Greenland, as well as internal events in the region where some people are expressing a desire to look toward the US—a new international airport in Nuuk, was recently inaugurated—are likely to be the catalyst, he told the BBC.
“I believe Trump is intelligent… About Greenland’s significant reliance on Copenhagen subsidies, he continued, “By elevating this voice, he gets Denmark to prioritize its Arctic military capabilities, without having to take over a very un-American welfare system.”
The leaders of Greenland sharply criticized Trump’s initial proposal in 2019 for the US to buy the largest island in the world.
Trump canceled a state visit to Denmark after Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen called the concept “absurd” at the time.
He is not the first American president to advocate for the purchase of Greenland. Andrew Johnson’s administration in the 1860s saw the initial emergence of the concept.
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