Several hundred people stood outside the new US consulate in Nuuk on Thursday, May 21, waving Greenland’s red and white flag and holding posters that read “USA, stop it”. Inside, Washington’s ambassador to Denmark was opening a much bigger diplomatic office, and he had a message about force.
Xinhua reported that the ambassador, Kenneth Howery, told the gathering: “The president has taken the use of force off the table.” He added that “The future of Greenland is something the Greenlanders themselves must decide.” Xinhua described the line as a shift, since Donald Trump had earlier declined to rule out military action to acquire the self-governing Danish territory.
Reuters, which covered the same opening, quoted a different passage of the speech, citing Greenland’s public broadcaster KNR. “We will always be neighbours and stand by you, whatever future you decide for yourselves, as your allies and partners,” Howery said.
An empty guest list
The welcome was cold. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and several other senior politicians turned down their invitations. “We haven’t made a decision in principle, but I won’t participate,” Nielsen told the local daily Sermitsiaq, according to Reuters. Xinhua added that the parliamentary representative Naaja H. Nathanielsen stayed away too, and that no Danish government officials were present.
Outside, the crowd chanted “No means no” and “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”. A State Department spokesperson, quoted by Reuters, said the larger venue gave the United States far more room for diplomacy on the island.
The building replaces what Reuters called a wooden cabin on the edge of town. The new office sits downtown, and it has become a focal point for Greenlanders unhappy with Trump’s stated wish to control the island.
How the dispute got here
Reuters traced the anger to January, when the White House said Trump was considering how to acquire Greenland, including a possible use of the US military. The statement set off alarm among NATO allies in Europe. Talks have since moved to a diplomatic track.
On the Monday before the opening, Greenland’s government said progress had been made in those talks. It also repeated that the island belongs to its people and will never be for sale.
Trump has called Greenland, home to 57,000 people, strategically vital for countering Russia and China in the Arctic. Reuters noted the United States now has one active military base there, down from around 17 facilities in 1945.
Sources
- Trump rules out use of force to take Greenland: US ambassador (CGTN)
- Trump rules out use of force to take Greenland: U.S. ambassador (Ghana News Agency, citing Xinhua)
- Greenlanders demonstrate against Trump as US diplomats open new consulate (Reuters, via Global Banking & Finance Review)
