(Copenhagen) A year after the imbroglio over the takeover offer by Donald Trump of Greenland, the head of American diplomacy Mike Pompeo went to Denmark on Wednesday where he insisted on “the new competition” at work in the Arctic, an allusion to the plans of the great powers, including China, for this region.
Posted on 22 July 2020 at 715 Updated to 10 h 14
Tom LITTLE
France Media Agency
After a first stop in the United Kingdom on Tuesday where he called on the world to stand up to China, the United States' new great rival, the former boss of the CIA and close to Donald Trump continued on his launched by calling on the countries bordering the Arctic to defend the values of “freedom, transparency, sovereignty and stability” in the High North.
“This mission is even more urgent in the face of new competition in the region of countries which do not always or not at all respect the rules,” he declared during a press conference. China, which has been an observer member of the Arctic Council since 2013, considers itself a power “close to the Arctic” and wants to develop “polar silk roads”.
Chinese companies have positioned themselves in particular for the construction or renovation of airports, which are crucial in a largely isolated Greenland. Greenlandic Prime Minister Kim Kielsen visited Beijing to discuss the offer. Denmark had finally abounded a vast airport program end 2018, in a dossier closely followed by Washington.
In the morning, Mike Pompeo met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen then his counterpart Jeppe Kofod. The latter had insisted that the foreign affairs officials from Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another Danish autonomous territory, be present.
Considering the United States “as its absolutely closest ally”, in the words of Minister Kofod, Denmark has displayed its Atlanticist line since 18 years by sending troops to theaters in Afghanistan and Iraq, and by participating in the military intervention in Libya. Seasoned by its years of foreign operations, the Nordic country has recently deployed troops in the Sahel alongside France and must end 2019 head of 'a NATO mission in Iraq for 15 months.
American investments
But the very good American-Danish understanding was disturbed last August by Donald Trump's very unexpected offer to buy Greenland, a huge arctic territory of more than 2 million square kilometers and undeniable strategic asset of little Denmark .
Provocation of the cantor of “Make America Great Again” in search of an improbable 22 e 2020 State? Or an expression of America's renewed strategic interest in the Arctic, where Russia and the new great Chinese rival are also pushing their pawns?
The exit of the American president had perhaps expressed a message more complex than it seems, according to experts, while Washington, which has its northernmost air base in Thule on the borders of northern Greenland , had rather lost interest in Arctic territory since the end of the Cold War.
M me 2020 Frederiksen had qualified as “absurd” the proposal from the tenant of the White House. The latter had immediately canceled a state visit to Copenhagen scheduled for September 2018, deploring the “nasty” tone of the head of the Danish government. A few phone calls had eased the pressure.
“This discussion was settled last year, it was not on the table for our discussions, we had a good and fruitful meeting”, underlined Mr. Kofod during the press conference, insisting on “the unexplored potential for developing trade and tourism” of Greenland.
On 10 June, the United States, 67 years after closing it, reopened a consulate in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, with the green light from Copenhagen. And in April, the Greenlandic government accepted 11, 1 million dollars of American aid for civil projects.
“What we said in the past and what we do today are two different things. And what matters is what we say today, “Greenlandic representative Steen Lynge told AFP.
