Washington, Jan 7 (.) The White House has said officials are discussing a wide range of options for acquiring Greenland, including using the US military to take it by force, ignoring warnings by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen who has said that a US takeover would amount to the end of NATO.
The White House said that the “U.S. military is always an option” to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark.
US President Donald Trump has argued that the US needs to control the world’s largest island to ensure its own security in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region.”
“The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal.”
President Trump has said he wants the issue settled before the end of his term.
Greenland has become a point of heated international discussion, after White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told CNN on Monday that it’s “the formal position of the U.S. government … that Greenland should be part of the United States,” and after US President Donald Trump said the US needs Greenland.
Denmark and Greenland are reported to be seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said an American military move to seize control of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Denmark is a NATO member, and NATO’s Article 5 states that if a NATO ally suffers an armed attack, all members will consider it an attack on them as well and do what they need to aid the attacked nation.
“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told local media on Monday. “That is, including our NATO, and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”
The Greenland debate comes as the US military entered Venezuela and captured Nicolás Maduro, and Trump said the US will run the country for now.
The White House statement came shortly after major European allies, including Denmark, said in a joint statement that they would “not stop defending” the values of sovereignty and Greenland’s territorial integrity.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” they said.
A senior White House official told NBC News that other options under consideration include purchasing the territory from Denmark or forming what’s known as a compact of free association with the island.
The US government has similar agreements with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau. Those deals include financial assistance in exchange for allowing the U.S. to have security presences there.
The US has had a military base in Greenland for decades.
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