Sept. 19 (UPI) — Leaders in Denmark and Greenland on Saturday said their newly-unveiled security agreement with the United States does not change the island’s status as a sovereign Danish territory.
President Donald Trump on Friday said Denmark and the United States had reached an agreement for “permanent control over security” of the island.
In a statement the following day, Greenland and Denmark clarified the deal did not compromise the territory’s sovereignty.
“I am happy on Greenland’s behalf that we are nearing an agreement — an agreement that benefits not only our shared security, but also the continued development of our country,” Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“The agreement recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our Kingdom and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.”
The agreement is expected to be signed next week at the United Nations General Assembly.
“Next week could be a good week for both Greenland, Denmark and the USA,” Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, said in a statement on Facebook. “As long as uncertainty is hopefully replaced by a binding agreement that strengthens security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic and thus also our common security in NATO and Europe — with respect for the Kingdom’s red lines.
“It is important at a time when the security policy situation in the Arctic has also changed.”
Trump has for years expressed a desire to annex Greenland, claiming the United States needs it “for defense.”
On Friday, the president said the new agreement is “completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”
“At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
“Additionally, from now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.”
The United States already has a military presence in the island and an agreement that allows for the expansion of its bases there.
Source: U.S. News
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