Nordic nation dispatches ‘substantial contribution’ of troops to the Arctic territory amid standoff with Washington.
Denmark has despatched extra troops to Greenland amid United States President Donald Trump’s threats to take management of the self-governing Danish territory.
The chief of the Royal Danish Military, Peter Boysen, and a “substantial contribution” of troopers landed in Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland on Monday night, public broadcaster DR and different Danish media reported.
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Public broadcaster TV2 reported that 58 Danish troops landed within the Arctic territory, becoming a member of about 60 others dispatched earlier to take part in ongoing multinational navy workout routines, dubbed Operation Arctic Endurance.
Denmark’s Ministry of Defence and the Danish Armed Forces didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The deployment got here hours after Trump declined to rule out utilizing navy pressure to take management of the huge, mineral-rich Arctic territory, which the US president claims is important to Washington’s safety.
In an interview with NBC Information on Monday, Trump replied, “no remark”, in response to a query about whether or not he might seize the island by pressure.
Trump’s remarks got here after he informed Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Storer in a textual content message over the weekend that he not felt obliged to “assume purely of Peace” after not being awarded this yr’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Denmark has expressed openness to a beefed-up US navy presence in Greenland, however has repeatedly stated the territory shouldn’t be on the market and that any transfer to take the island by pressure would spell the tip of NATO.
Trump’s insistence that Greenland should be introduced underneath US management has introduced US-European relations to their lowest ebb in many years and raised fears concerning the potential disintegration of NATO, the transatlantic safety alliance whose 32 members embody each the US and Denmark.
Beneath Article 5 of NATO’s constitution, the alliance considers an armed assault towards anyone member as an assault towards all.
NATO Secretary-Basic Mark Rutte on Monday met with Danish Minister of Defence Troels Lund Poulsen and Greenland’s minister of overseas affairs, Vivian Motzfeldt, to debate proposals for enhancing Arctic safety, together with the institution of a joint NATO mission within the Danish territory.
Rutte stated in a press release that the perimeters had mentioned the significance of the Arctic to “our collective safety” and Copenhagen’s rising investments in its defence capabilities.
“We’ll proceed to work collectively as Allies on these essential points,” Rutte stated.
Poulsen pressured the necessity for unity following the talks.
“Thanks to our allies for standing up for Greenland and Denmark,” he stated.
EU’s ‘commerce bazooka’
On the similar time that Trump’s strikes are putting safety ties underneath pressure, his risk to impose tariffs on Denmark and 7 different European international locations till a deal is reached to purchase Greenland has raised the prospect of a full-blown transatlantic commerce struggle.
The European Union is ready to convene an emergency assembly on Thursday to debate its response to the disaster, with retaliatory tariffs and the activation of the bloc’s anti-coercion mechanism among the many choices into account.
Triggering the Anti-Coercion Instrument, also called the “commerce bazooka”, would enable the bloc to impose sweeping restrictions on the funding and enterprise actions of US tech companies inside the single market.
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated on Monday that she had pressured the “have to unequivocally respect the sovereignty” of Denmark and Greenland in a gathering with US diplomats on the sidelines of the Davos summit in Switzerland.
“That is of utmost significance to our transatlantic relationship,” von der Leyen stated. “On the similar time, the European Union stays able to proceed working carefully with america, NATO, and different allies, in shut cooperation with Denmark, to advance our shared safety pursuits.”
An opinion ballot, commissioned by Danish paper Berlingske final yr, prompt that 85 % of Greenland’s residents didn’t want to be a part of the US, with simply 6 % in favour.
