US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory.
Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic.
While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal.
Photo: EPA
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months ... let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”
Over the weekend, the Danish prime minister called on Washington to stop “threatening its historical ally.”
“I have to say this very clearly to the United States: It is absolutely absurd to say that the United States should take control of Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.
She also said that Denmark, “and thus Greenland,” was a NATO member protected by the agreement’s security guarantees.
Trump rattled European leaders by attacking Caracas and grabbing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is now being detained in New York.
Trump has said the US would now “run” Venezuela indefinitely and tap its huge oil reserves.
Asked in a telephone interview with The Atlantic about the implications of the Venezuela military operation for mineral-rich Greenland, Trump said it was up to others to decide.
“They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know, but we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense,” Trump was quoted as saying.
Hours later, former aide Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it “SOON.”
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen called Miller’s post “disrespectful.”
“Relations between nations and peoples are built on mutual respect and international law — not on symbolic gestures that disregard our status and our rights,” Nielsen wrote on social media.
“There is neither reason for panic nor for concern. Our country is not for sale, and our future is not decided by social media posts,” he wrote.
Stephen Miller is widely seen as the architect of much of Trump’s policies, guiding the president on his hardline immigration policies and domestic agenda.
Danish Ambassador to the US Jesper Moeller Soerensen offered a pointed “friendly reminder” in response to Katie Miller’s post that his nation has “significantly boosted its arctic security efforts” and worked together with Washington on that.
“We are close allies and should continue to work together as such,” Soerensen wrote on social media.
Katie Miller was deputy press secretary under Trump at the US Department of Homeland Security during his first term.
She later worked as communications director for then-US vice president Mike Pence and also acted as his press secretary.
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS