By Victor Friedman
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that he and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, will meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Jan. 14 to discuss the Arctic island.
Rasmussen told Danish media on Jan. 13 that U.S. Vice President JD Vance will host the meeting.
“The background for the meeting is to get this whole discussion into a meeting room where we can look each other in the eye, and therefore I have no further comments,” Rasmussen said, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.
The Epoch Times contacted the U.S. State Department and White House for confirmation of the meeting and whether Rubio and Vance will be in attendance, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Rubio initially confirmed on Jan. 7 that he would hold a meeting with Danish officials this week. Both Rasmussen and Motzfeldt requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed an interest in annexing Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, saying it is essential for securing the Arctic amid growing threats from Beijing and Moscow.
Trump told reporters on Jan. 9 during a meeting with oil company executives at the White House that the United States would not tolerate having Russia or China as a neighbor.
The United States and Russia are already neighbors, sharing a maritime boundary in the Bering Strait. At their closest point, between Alaska’s Little Diomede Island and Russia’s Big Diomede Island, the two countries are less than 2.5 miles apart.
When asked about a potential purchase price for Greenland, Trump said, “I’m not talking about money for Greenland yet. I might talk about that. But right now, we are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”
The president said that if the United States doesn’t take action now, “Russia or China will take over Greenland.”
“So, we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way,” Trump said.
Purchase of Greenland Being Discussed
Denmark and Greenland oppose the move and have said the territory is not for sale.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in Copenhagen on Jan. 13: “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.
“We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the European Union.”
When asked later that day about Nielsen’s comments, Trump said: “I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know anything about him. But, that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
Several other European nations are also against a U.S. takeover of the Arctic island, with leaders from the France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK joining Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in signing a joint statement issued on Jan. 6, saying “it is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
On Jan. 7, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump and his national security team were actively discussing the purchase of Greenland.
“The president has been very open and clear with all of you and with the world that he views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region, and so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt said.
She said Trump’s interest in Greenland is part of his wider efforts to secure the Western Hemisphere and that owning the island would give the United States “more control over the Arctic region … ensuring that China and Russia and our adversaries cannot continue their aggression in this very important and strategic region.”
The Associated Press and Guy Birchall contributed to this report.
