Denmark boosts Greenland protection after Trump repeats need for US management

The Danish authorities has introduced a major improve in Greenland’s protection spending, hours after US President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his need to purchase the Arctic territory.

Danish Protection Minister Troels Lund Poulsen stated the scale of the package deal was “a double-digit billion” in kroner, or at the least $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion).

He described the timing of the announcement as “irony.” On Monday, Trump stated possession and management of the huge island was an “absolute necessity” for the US.

Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, is residence to a big U.S. area facility and is of strategic significance to the US as a result of it lies on the shortest route between North America and Europe. It has important mineral reserves.

Poulsen stated the package deal would allow the acquisition of two new inspection vessels, two new long-range drones and two further canine sled groups.

It might additionally embody funding to extend Arctic Command staffing ranges within the capital Nuuk and to improve one among Greenland’s three principal civilian airports to accommodate F-35 supersonic fighter jets.

“We have now not invested sufficient within the Arctic for a few years. We now plan to strengthen our presence there,” he stated.

The protection minister didn’t give an actual determine, however Danish media estimated it could be round 12 to fifteen billion crowns.

The announcement got here a day after Trump stated on his social media platform Fact Social: “As a matter of nationwide safety and freedom all over the world, the US of America believes that possession and management of Greenland are an absolute necessity.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede responded to Trump’s commentssaying “we aren’t on the market”.

However he added that Greenlanders ought to stay open to cooperation and commerce, notably with their neighbors.

Analysts say the plan has been underneath dialogue for a very long time and shouldn’t be seen as a direct response to Trump’s feedback.

Denmark has up to now been very sluggish to develop its navy capability in Greenland, they are saying, but when the nation is unable to guard the waters across the territory in opposition to encroachments from China and Russia , American calls for for larger management are more likely to develop.

Main Steen Kjaergaard of the Danish Protection Academy means that Trump might have supposed to stress Denmark into making such a choice.

“This may probably be triggered by Trump’s renewed emphasis on the necessity for air and sea management round Greenland and by inside developments in Greenland the place some are expressing a willingness to look to the US – a brand new worldwide airport in Nuuk has simply been inaugurated,” he informed the BBC.

“I believe Trump is sensible… he is getting Denmark to prioritize its navy capabilities within the Arctic by elevating that voice, with out having to tackle a really un-American welfare system,” he stated. he added, referring to Greenland’s heavy dependence on subsidies from Copenhagen.

Trump’s preliminary suggestion in 2019 that the US purchase Greenland, which is the world’s largest island, led to a equally harsh rebuke from that nation’s leaders.

On the time, Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen referred to as the concept “absurd”, main Trump to cancel state trip to country.

He’s not the primary American president to suggest shopping for Greenland. The thought was first mooted within the 1860s, through the presidency of Andrew Johnson.