Vice President JD Vance arrived in Greenland on Friday and declared that U.S. interest in Arctic security would grow for decades.
Vance's visit to the U.S. military base at Pituffik in the north of the Arctic island comes just hours after a new government coalition, which aims to keep ties with Denmark for now, was presented in the capital Nuuk.
The Vice President greeted U.S. armed forces members shortly after his arrival, thanking them for their service on the remote base 1,200 km north of the Arctic Circle.
"The president is really interested in Arctic security, as you all know, and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades," Vance said.
"It's cold as sh*t here. Nobody told me," Vance said, prompting laughs, adding it was his first visit to the island. The outside temperature at Pituffik was -19 C.
Greenland's new prime minister said the U.S. visit signaled a "lack of respect" and called for unity in the face of "pressure from outside."
Denmark's King Frederik issued a statement of support on social media: "We live in an altered reality. There should be no doubt that my love for Greenland and my connectedness to the people of Greenland are intact."
'We need Greenland'
He said that he hoped Denmark and the EU would understand it, and "if they don't, we are going to have to explain it to them."
"If you look at Greenland right now, if you look at the waterways, you have Chinese and Russian ships all over the place, and we're not going to be able to do that. We're not relying on Denmark or anybody else to take care of that situation."
Greenland, the world's biggest island of over two million square km, boasts mineral, oil, and natural gas wealth. However, development has been slow, and the mining sector has seen limited U.S. investment. Mining companies operating in Greenland are mostly Australian, Canadian or British.
A White House official has said Greenland has an ample supply of rare earth minerals that would power the next generation of the U.S. economy.
New government
Greenland's new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, urged political unity on Friday.
"At a time when we as a people are under pressure, we must stand together," Nielsen said at a press conference.
His pro-business party, the Democrats, favoring gradual independence from Denmark, emerged as the biggest party in a March 11 election.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who had called the initial plans for the U.S. visit "unacceptable," congratulated Greenland on its new government in a post on Instagram: "I look forward to close cooperation in an unnecessarily conflict-ridden time."
The question now is how far Trump is willing to push his idea of taking over the island, said Andreas Oesthagen, a senior researcher on Arctic politics and security at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
"It is still unlikely that the United States will use military means," he told Reuters.
"But it is unfortunately likely that President Trump and Vice President Vance will continue to use other means of pressure, such as ambiguous statements, semi-official visits to Greenland, and economic instruments," he added.
