Danish Premier Reminds US of Strong Alliance Amid Greenland Spat
(Bloomberg) -- Denmark’s prime minister said the US should remember that the Nordic country has lost troops fighting in US-led wars and always has supported its large partner, after President Donald Trump escalated his demands over Greenland.
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“I think it is important that everyone in the US remembers how good an ally Denmark has been,” Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday in an interview broadcast by TV2 from Copenhagen. “So Denmark has been a good ally, we are a good ally now, and we intend to continue to be one.”
Her comments were in response to Trump reiterating on Saturday his intention to obtain Greenland for the US. The president has in recent weeks said the US needs Greenland for international security reasons and has refused to rule out using military force to obtain his goal.
“I think we’re going to have it. And I think the people want to be with us as you know,” Trump said to reporters traveling with him on Air Force One on Saturday. “I don’t know really what claim Denmark has to it. But it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn’t allow that to happen because it’s for protection of the free world.”
The two leaders also held a call last week, which some officials had described as confrontational, according to the Financial Times. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark but its 57,000 inhabitants have extensive home rule.
Frederiksen repeated on Sunday that Greenland is not for sale and that the Arctic island’s future is up to the local population to decide, not Denmark nor the US. According to TV2, Frederiksen was due to meet leaders of the other Nordic countries — Sweden, Norway and Finland — later on Sunday, to discuss Greenland, among other things.
“We are working to discuss this as thoroughly as we can with the Americans but it’s not a discussion I want to have in public, for obvious reasons,” Frederiksen said, in a separate interview Sunday, broadcast by DR.
Denmark, a NATO member and a country of 6 million people, lost 44 soldiers in the Afghanistan war and eight in Iraq, under missions instigated by the US. The Nordic country spent a total of 12.1 billion kroner ($1.7 billion) on the war in Afghanistan, over 20 years.
--With assistance from Stephanie Lai.
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