‘We choose Denmark’ over joining US, says Greenland PM Nielsen

“If we person to take betwixt the United States and Denmark present and now, we take Denmark,” said Greenland’s PM.

Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has said the self-governed Danish territory wants to stay portion of Denmark alternatively than articulation the United States, amid US President Donald Trump’s ongoing propulsion to instrumentality implicit the island.

Speaking astatine a quality league successful Copenhagen alongside Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Nielsen said the autonomous Arctic territory would similar to stay Danish.

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“We are present facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we person to take betwixt the United States and Denmark present and now, we take Denmark,” helium said.

Frederiksen said it had not been casual to basal up to what she slammed arsenic “completely unacceptable unit from our closest ally”.

Nielsen’s comments came a time aft the government of Greenland rejected Trump’s threats of a takeover.

“The United States has erstwhile again reiterated its tendency to instrumentality implicit Greenland. This is thing that the governing conjugation successful Greenland cannot judge nether immoderate circumstance,” said the island’s conjugation government.

“As portion of the Danish commonwealth, Greenland is simply a subordinate of NATO, and the defence of Greenland indispensable truthful beryllium done NATO,” it added.

Trump has insisted that helium volition prehend Greenland, threatening that the territory volition beryllium brought nether US control “one mode oregon another”.

Those threats person created a situation for NATO, sparking outrage from European allies who person warned that immoderate takeover of Greenland would person serious repercussions for ties betwixt the US and Europe.

On Wednesday, US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio volition big a gathering with the overseas ministers of Denmark and Greenland astatine the White House.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, told reporters successful Copenhagen connected Tuesday that they had requested the gathering with Rubio aft Trump’s threats.

“Our crushed for seeking the gathering we person present been fixed was to determination this full treatment … into a gathering country wherever we tin look each different successful the oculus and speech astir these things,” Rasmussen said.

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic person successful the Danish parliament, told Al Jazeera that a bulk of Greenland’s 56,000 radical did not privation to go US citizens.

“Greenland is not for sale, and Greenland volition ne'er beryllium for sale,” Chemnitz, from the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, said.

“People look to deliberation they tin bargain the Greenlandic soul. It is our identity, our language, our civilization – and it would look wholly antithetic if you became an American citizen, and that is not thing a bulk successful Greenland want.”