BRUSSELS - The Danish government is still worried that US President Donald Trump has not given up on the idea of seizing Greenland, despite its silence on the issue in recent months, sources told Politico.
"Senior Danish officials are concerned that Trump is still determined to become the first U.S. president to significantly expand U.S. territory since Andrew Johnson purchased Alaska in 1867," writes Politico.
"The Danes are also concerned that some of their European partners in the EU and NATO have failed to understand what an existential threat to relations with the US - and to global respect for sovereignty and international borders - Trump's obsession with Greenland could become."
The Danish government is reluctant to provoke the volatile American leader, especially at a time when negotiations on trade and cooperation with the United States are under way.
"Instead, they prefer to treat Trump's plans to annex Greenland as a distraction or a joke - but no one in Copenhagen is laughing," Politico reports.
The Pentagon has assigned Greenland to the U.S. Northern Command area of responsibility. According to Washington, this decision will strengthen the US military's ability to defend the continental United States, help defend the Western Hemisphere and deepen relations with allies and partners in the Arctic. Politico reported that the United States has not informed the Danish government of its plans.
Trump's statements
The current US President has repeatedly stated that Greenland, an autonomous territory within Denmark, should join the United States. The question of the island's independence became one of the key issues in the Greenlandic parliamentary elections in March. According to polls, a majority of Greenlanders would support independence, but they have not yet decided when and how secession will take place. A poll in January showed that only six percent of the population was in favour of joining the US.
In early May, Trump did not rule out the use of force to resolve the Greenland issue. US Vice President JD Vance said in late March that the US government expected Greenland to gain independence and join the United States peacefully. According to Vance, Washington does not threaten to use military force in this case.
TASS/gnews.cz - GH
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