Greenland’s foreign minister became tearful as she described the “intense pressure” of Donald Trump’s threats to take over the territory.
Vivian Motzfeldt and Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen met with US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio at the White House on Wednesday for discussions that ended in “fundamental disagreement”.
“We have been working very hard in our department, even though there are not many of us,” she told national broadcaster KNR in the aftermath of the talks. “I would not normally like to say these words, but I will say them: we are very strong. We are doing our utmost. But the last days, naturally...”
Ms Motzfeldt briefly broke down and held back tears as she said: “Oh, I am getting very emotional. I am overwhelmed. The last days have been tough. Our preparations and the increasing pressure, that has been intense.”
She stressed that the government of Greenland was “strong” and promised to work “to ensure the Greenlandic people in our country can feel safe and live securely”, adding: “We are using all our strength to achieve this as we continue the work.”
The US president has made clear that he wants the territory, which he has repeatedly claimed is essential for “national security”. But he has met with stiff resistance across Europe.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday that any attempt by a Nato member to take over another member would be “the end of the world as we know it”.
“An attempt to take over [part of] a Nato member state by another Nato member state would be a political disaster,” he told a press conference. “It would be the end of the world as we know it, which guaranteed a world based on Nato solidarity, which held back the evil forces associated with communist terror or other forms of aggression.”
Nato allies have sent military reinforcements to Greenland in a move to bolster its defences amid the uncertainty. A small contingent of French military personnel, consisting of 15 people, arrived in the territory’s capital Nuuk on Thursday.
Finland is sending two military liaison officers for a fact-finding mission, while the UK is sending one military officer to the Arctic to assist.
Germany deployed a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel as well as an A400M transport plane, but officials said they would only stay in the territory until Saturday.
On Wednesday, Sweden confirmed a deployment of military officers to the Arctic at the behest of Denmark.
Denmark’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the plan was to have a military presence “in rotation” with allies taking part in military exercises in the forthcoming weeks, to build towards a more permanent presence.
Mr Trump’s claims that Greenland is “covered with Chinese and Russian ships all over the place” were dismissed by Sweden’s defence minister on Thursday as an “exaggeration”.
“If you state that Greenland is flooded with Russian and Chinese vessels, that’s an exaggeration according to the assessments that we do for the region,” Pal Johnson told The Telegraph.
Denmark and the US have agreed to set up a working group to discuss ways to resolve their differences, as Mr Trump remains adamant that he needs Greenland for the “national security” of his country.
“The group, in our view, should focus on how to address the American security concerns, while at the same time respecting the red lines of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Mr Rasmussen told reporters on Wednesday. He said that a US acquisition of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary”.
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