A boat sails through a frozen sea inlet outside Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6. Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
Editor's note: As warming seas open new routes and buried resources edge closer to reach, Greenland has moved from the margins of world affairs to the center of a growing geopolitical contest. This page examines why the Arctic territory now commands outsized attention — and why the debate around it matters far beyond the polar circle.
A "fundamental disagreement" over the sovereignty of Greenland was laid bare after senior officials from Denmark and Greenland met with their United States counterparts on Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump reiterated — five times in 10 days — his determination to bring the Arctic island under US control.
While a "high-level" working group will be formed as a result of the meeting for further negotiation, Denmark and other NATO allies in Europe have started strengthening military presence on the Danish autonomous territory in an effort to dissuade Trump's intention of taking the Arctic island by force.
Analysts say the confrontation cuts at the heart of trans-Atlantic trust, with risks producing the opposite of what Washington claims to want.
"We didn't manage to change the American position," Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after he and Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt met US Vice-President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday.
"It's clear that (Trump) has this wish of conquering over Greenland. We made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the Kingdom (of Denmark)," Rasmussen said. "Ideas that would not respect the territorial integrity of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenland people are totally unacceptable."
Before the meeting, Denmark's Defense Ministry said the Danish Armed Forces are deploying capacities and units in connection with exercise activities from Wednesday, which will result in an increased military presence in and around Greenland of aircraft, ships and soldiers, including from NATO allies, in the coming period.
Meanwhile, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on X that Swedish officers are arriving in Greenland to help prepare for the upcoming phases of Denmark's Operation Arctic Endurance exercise.
Germany's Defense Ministry confirmed that it would send 13 soldiers to Greenland on Thursday as part of a reconnaissance mission aimed at exploring possible military contributions to bolster regional security.
In addition, the United Kingdom's defense secretary told reporters on Wednesday that the UK would take part in a Danish-led reconnaissance mission to Greenland ahead of a wider military exercise later this year.
A European diplomat said that troops from the Netherlands, Canada and France will also take part, but the deployment has not been formally approved by NATO, according to the Politico news outlet.
"For Europe, the first aim is to dispel the idea of using military means on Greenland," said Cui Hongjian, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University's Academy of Regional and Global Governance, about the military posture. "Because if the US were to seize Greenland by force, NATO could risk collapse, and the entire Western alliance might unravel."
Denmark is among the 12 founding members of the NATO military alliance, and Greenland does not have its own independent military, but is part of the alliance through Denmark.
Europe must achieve internal cohesion to create a more balanced strategic interaction with the US, Cui said.
Also on Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted a statement supporting Greenland and Denmark. It said the parliament "unequivocally condemns the statements made by the Trump administration regarding Greenland, which constitute a blatant challenge to international law, to the principles of the United Nations Charter and to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a NATO ally".
"Such statements are unacceptable and have no place in relations between democratic partners," it said.
Sun Chenghao, head of the US-European Union program at Tsinghua University's Center for International Security and Strategy, said the issue at stake is the predictability of US commitments, which allies value most.
"When the US uses threats, bargaining and coercion rhetoric with allies, it erodes the rule-based boundaries that underpin trans-Atlantic ties," Sun said.
"And Europe is concerned about the uncertainty over how broadly the US may define 'national security'. The Greenland moment deepened Europe's fear that the US selectively adheres to rules and weakens the sense of security that underlies alliance cohesion."
Trump has long said Greenland should be under US control and has become increasingly strident in his demands, despite them putting his country at loggerheads with Denmark, a long-standing ally and fellow member of NATO.
"NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States," Trump wrote on social media. "Anything less than that is unacceptable."
Producing the opposite
However, the threatening rhetoric risks producing the opposite of what he wants, said Charlie Edwards, a senior fellow for strategy and national security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
"From the moment Trump outlined his intention in 2019 to buy Greenland, his transactional approach to the island has raised profound concerns in Copenhagen and Nuuk regarding the long-term reliability of its most critical partner," he said.
"Albeit, Trump has said the US will do it 'the easy way' or 'the hard way'. Either way, fear of US predation is likely to shift Greenland closer to Denmark in the near term."
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said earlier this week: "One thing must be clear to everyone: Greenland does not want to be owned by the US. Greenland does not want to be governed by the US. Greenland does not want to be part of the US ... If we have to choose between the US and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark."
xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn
