U.S. congress members visit Denmark to support Greenland

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A bipartisan U.S. Congress delegation began a visit to Copenhagen on Friday to voice support for Denmark and Greenland after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to take over the Arctic island, an autonomous Danish territory.

The two-day visit comes alongside a European show of support in the form of a military reconnaissance mission to Greenland.

The 11 congressmen and women were to hold talks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

The group arrived at the Danish employers’ association Dansk Industri around midday for discussions with business leaders.

They were due later to meet members of the Danish parliament, over which the Greenlandic flag was raised on Friday in a show of unity.

“We are showing bipartisan solidarity with the people of this country and with Greenland. They’ve been our friends and allies for decades,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin told reporters.

“We want them to know we appreciate that very much. And the statements being made by the president do not reflect what the American people feel,” he added of Trump.

An AFP reporter in Copenhagen saw a large black van leave Frederiksen’s office shortly before noon (1100 GMT) on Friday but her office declined to confirm whether the meeting had taken place.

The delegation’s visit follows a meeting in Washington on Wednesday at which Danish representatives said Copenhagen and Washington were in “fundamental disagreement” over the future of Greenland.

In Greenland’s capital Nuuk, residents welcomed the show of support.

“(US) Congress would never approve of a military action in Greenland. It’s just one idiot speaking,” a 39-year-old union representative told AFP.

“If he does it, he’ll get impeached or kicked out. If people in Congress want to save their own democracy, they have to step up,” said the union rep, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Demonstrations

Trump claims the United States needs mineral-rich Greenland and has criticized Denmark for, he says, not doing enough to ensure its security.

The US president has pursued that argument, despite strategically located Greenland -- as part of Denmark -- being covered by NATO’s security umbrella.

Military personnel were more visible in Nuuk on Friday, according to an AFP journalist, days after Denmark said it was beefing up its defence on the island.

“I don’t think troops in Europe impact the president’s decision-making process, nor does it impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen retorted that a US acquisition of Greenland was “out of the question.”

The European troop deployment in Greenland for a military exercise is aimed at “sending a signal” to “everyone”, including the United States, that European countries are determined to “defend (their) sovereignty”, French armed forces minister Alice Rufo said.

Britain, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have announced the deployment of small numbers of military personnel to prepare for future exercises in the Arctic.

“A first team of French service members is already on site and will be reinforced in the coming days with land, air and maritime assets,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

Large demonstrations are planned across Denmark and Greenland on Saturday to protest against Trump’s territorial ambitions.

Thousands of people have taken to social networks to say they intend to take part in the protests organised by Greenlandic associations in Nuuk and Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense.

In addition to Durbin, the US delegation included Democratic senators Chris Coons, Jeanne Shaheen and Peter Welch, as well as Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis.

Democrats from the House of Representatives in the delegation are Madeleine Dean, Steny Hoyer, Sara Jacobs, Sarah McBride and Gregory Meeks.

By Johannes Ledel