Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has told US special envoy Jeff Landry that the Arctic island is not for sale, after a meeting he described as “constructive” and conducted in a spirit of “goodwill” and “mutual respect”.
“We have reiterated that the people of Greenland are not for sale and that our right to self-determination is not negotiable,” Nielsen told reporters following the talks on May 18, which were also attended by Greenland Foreign Minister Mute Egede and the US ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery.
Nielsen said Greenland was committed to continuing the dialogue, though he urged that diplomatic contacts be pursued “through the correct channels”, a reference to the high-level working group established between the two sides in January, according to the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq.
Landry, who is governor of the US state of Louisiana, arrived on May 17 with a small delegation. He is due to take part in a business conference on Greenland’s future on May 19 and 20. Howery is expected to open the new US consulate in Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital.
US President Donald Trump’s expansionist ambitions regarding Greenland have been a constant since he returned to the White House a year ago. Citing national security, and pointing to the presence of Chinese and Russian vessels in the region, he has demanded control of the island.
According to the BBC, the Trump administration has held five meetings since January with representatives of Greenland and Denmark on establishing three new military bases in the south of the Arctic island. Their stated purpose would be to monitor Russian and Chinese activity in a part of the North Atlantic.
Washington already has a base on Greenlandic territory, the Pituffik Space Base. The US said it could set up military installations in Greenland under a 1951 defence agreement. The new bases are estimated to be in line for the same status as Pituffik.
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member, and the issue has caused tension between Washington and Copenhagen, both founding members of the alliance, as well as more widely across Europe.
Nielsen said the meeting had given him no indication that the US position had changed, according to the AFP news agency. Landry did not immediately comment, though he told local media on his arrival that he was there to “listen and learn”.
