After an informal phone talk between Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his US counterpart, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Denmark finally agreed to conduct negotiations with Washington on Arctic security. The brief 20 minutes of conversation went well and effectively, covering multiple topics such as Ukraine, the European security arena, and issues in the Middle East, Foreign Ministry officials declared.
The conversation comes at a time when speculation has been rife over Greenland, the autonomous territory of Denmark. US President Donald Trump had previously expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, citing its strategic location and its importance to US defense systems. While the Trump administration has not shut the door entirely on using either military or economic pressure to encourage the transfer, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede says that the island is not for sale and should be decided on by its own people.
Arctic security was not a talking point during the call, but the parties agreed it was to be one of the topics the US, Denmark, and Greenland would discuss in future talks. US has long seen Greenland’s strategic importance in being along the shortest route from Europe to North America as the importance of its location for its ballistic missile warning system, increasing its strategic interest in the region.
This comes after earlier statements by Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, claiming that Greenland’s future rests solely upon the people of Greenland. However, as Denmark has continued the dialogue with the US concerning this issue, one can determine that it is not going to be an unmentioned future for the island.