Denmark says its sovereignty is not negotiable after Trump's Greenland about-turn

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, January 23 ------ Denmark’s prime minister insisted that her country can’t negotiate on its sovereignty after U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed on a “framework of a future deal” on Arctic security with the head of NATO.

Trump on Wednesday abruptly scrapped the tariffs he had threatened to impose on eight European nations to press for U.S. control over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. It was a dramatic reversal hours after he insisted he wanted to get the island “including right, title and ownership” — though he also said he would not use force. He said “additional discussions” on Greenland were being held concerning the Golden Dome missile defense program, a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put U.S. weapons in space. Trump offered few details, saying they were still being worked out. NATO said its secretary general, Mark Rutte, hadn't proposed any compromise to Danish sovereignty.

Denmark insists on territorial integrity

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said security in the Arctic is a matter for all of NATO, and it is “good and natural” that it be discussed between the U.S. president and Rutte. She said in a statement that she had spoken with Rutte “on an ongoing basis,” including before and after he met Trump in Davos.

She wrote that NATO is fully aware of the kingdom of Denmark's position that anything political can be negotiated on, including security, investment, and economic issues — “but we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty.” “I have been informed that this has not been the case,” she said, adding that only Denmark and Greenland can make decisions on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland. Frederiksen said that Denmark wants to continue engaging in constructive dialogue with allies on how to strengthen security in the Arctic, including the U.S. Golden Dome program, “provided that this is done with respect for our territorial integrity.”

Asked in an interview with Fox News whether Greenland would remain part of the kingdom of Denmark under the framework deal Trump announced, Rutte replied that “that issue did not come up anymore in my conversations tonight with the president.” “He’s very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that huge Arctic region, where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and Russians are more and more active, how we can protect it,” he said. “That was really the focus of our discussions.”

NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said Thursday that Rutte “did not propose any compromise to sovereignty during his meeting with President Trump.” She said that negotiations between Denmark, Greenland, and the U.S. “will go forward aimed at ensuring that Russia and China never gain a foothold - economically or militarily - in Greenland.”

Christian Friis Bach, the chair of the Danish parliament's foreign policy committee, told The Associated Press that Denmark wants to see a “consolidated and permanent” NATO surveillance and security mission in the Arctic, along the lines of the Baltic Sentry mission the alliance launched in the Baltic Sea last year.

Source: mb.com.ph