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Several senior senior administration officials are expected to go to Greenland next week while the Arctic Island coveted by the American president is in talks to form a new government and organizes local elections.
Mike Waltz, US national security advisor, USHA VANCE, wife of the vice-president JD VANCE, and the secretaries of the army and the energy will go to Greenland In what is presented as a “private visit” from Thursday to Saturday, according to people knowing the trip.
A familiar source with the visit confirmed that Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright would visit Pituffik Space Base, the American military installation in Greenland. Danish and Greenlanders said they were open to an increased American presence on the island, but not to his takeover.
The trip caused consternation among the officials of Greenland and Danish, because it comes on the eve of the local elections and only a few weeks after a parliamentary vote on the island, which is part of the kingdom of Denmark.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, chief of Demokraatit, winner of the elections of this month, said that the visit, at a time when the talks in the coalition and the local elections were underway, “once again, a lack of respect for the Greenlanders”.
Múte Egede, outgoing Prime Minister of Greenland, added that the visit “can in no case be characterized as a harmless visit to the woman of a politician” and that “his only goal is a demonstration of power towards us”.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed the desire to acquire Arctic Island and even refused to exclude military force to take over from another NATO ally. Trump’s eldest son Donald Jr also visited the island during a “private visit” in January.
Put Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark, reacted dismay during the new visit to the United States, saying that he could not be “seen independently of public statements” made by Trump and other officials.
“In the kingdom (Denmark), we want to cooperate with the Americans. But it must and should be cooperation based on the fundamental values of sovereignty and respect between countries and peoples. This is something that we seriously examine, “she said.
Trump and other American officials praised the result of the Greenlandic parliamentary elections, seeming to assimilate the preference of voters for pro-independence parties with pressure to become American. But a recent survey has shown that only 6% of Greenlanders wanted to join the United States and that 85% were fully opposed.
All the leaders of the current parties represented in the island’s parliament condemned Trump’s behavior as “unacceptable”.
Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic deputy in the Denmark Parliament, told Danish television that the visit was a “premature interference” in the policy of the island so close to the elections.
“Everyone trying to intervene, but are not part of the Green Society, must stay away. We are at some point in the history of Greenland which is particularly difficult because we are so influenced by what is happening abroad, “she said.
Martin Lidegaard, former Danish minister and current opposition deputy, said the visit had crossed the line of what was acceptable to Denmark and Greenland. “Now he will be crucial for Denmark and Greenland to stay together,” he added.
The Office of Usha Vance confirmed that she would travel with her son “and an American delegation … To visit historic sites, discover the heritage of Greenland and attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, the National Greenland race”.
The organization behind the dog sled competition told Greenlandis Media that she had received a significant but confidential silver sum of the American consulate in Nuuk, in the capital of Greenland.
