Greenland’s political leaders have issued a joint statement rejecting continued threats from US President Donald Trump. The five political parties represented in Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic Parliament, have defended in this text their national sovereignty as well as the right of the inhabitants of this autonomous Danish territory to decide their future.
“As leaders of the Greenlandic parties, we want to emphasize once again our desire for an end to the disdain of the United States towards our country,” begins the statement from the parties of the island located at the North Pole, which insists: “We do not want to be Americans, we do not want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders.”
Next, the leaders of the government parties Demokraatit (The Democrats), Inuit Ataqatigiit (Inuit Community), Siumut (Forward) and Atassut (Community Sentiment) as well as Naleraq (Orientation Point), the only opposition party, recall that Greenland is a country governed by the Self-Government Act, approved by Denmark in 2009 and which increased the autonomy of the nation that unites the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, and by International Law.
The Greenlandic parties also point out that their government and parliament are freely elected by the citizens of the island and that, therefore, they “cooperate with both the United States and Western countries and will continue to do so in the future.”
Of course, they want to make it clear that the future of Greenland “must be decided by the Greenlandic people.” “The work for the future of Greenland is done in dialogue with the Greenlandic people and is prepared based on international laws and the Self-Government Act. No other country can interfere in this,” the parties point out in the text.
“We must decide the future of our country for ourselves, without pressure for a quick decision, delay or interference from other countries,” they add. In addition, they point out that they have “intensified” their responsibility and international participation in recent years, but emphasizing that the Arctic nation does so “through international principles based on mutual respect and dialogue.” And they warn: “We will continue doing it.”
For all the reasons given, the parties that represent the people of Greenland in their autonomous parliament reiterate a call for the continuation of dialogue “based on diplomacy and international principles.” And they send a message to both the United States and Denmark: “This is the way forward for allies and friends.”
In addition, the five parties have agreed to ensure an “intensified and close” dialogue with Greenland’s allies, a “fair and comprehensive” political debate in the Inatsisartut, ensure that the Greenlandic people “obtain their rights in an unusual and serious time” and continue working to develop opportunities to achieve the security of their people throughout the country.
Trump keeps up the pressure: “By hook or by crook”
The statement from the parties of the Danish autonomous territory comes after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has insisted on his intention to “keep” Greenland. Trump remains determined to annex the territory, despite Denmark’s diplomatic efforts. “Right now we are going to do something with Greenland, whether you like it or not,” he said this Friday.
The American speaks of “possessing” the Danish island with the excuse of protecting it from a hypothetical Chinese or Russian occupation and from the foreseeable melting of the Arctic Ocean. “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland and we are not going to have Russia or China as neighbors. I would like to reach an agreement, you know, the good way; but if we don’t do it the good way, we will do it the bad way,” he said this Friday from the White House, at an event with several oil executives. Despite Trump’s words, the US and Russia are already “neighbors” through the Bering Strait, which separates the American and Eurasian continents by just 82 kilometers of water.
Trump once again cites security reasons to justify his imperialist threats. “Right now around Greenland there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and, in addition, there are Russian submarines everywhere,” he said last night. The US president refuses to negotiate other means of defense for the island because, in his words, you can only protect militarily what you own. However, in Greenland the US already hosts the US Pituffik Space Force Base, which supports missile warning and space surveillance missions.
Furthermore, Trump denies Danish sovereignty over the territory and is dismissive of its ability to preserve it. And everything indicates that the American president’s real interest may be in the rare earths beneath the soil of Greenland as well as in its oil reserves stored under an increasingly thin layer of ice.
“The fact that they landed there with a ship 500 years ago does not mean that they own that land,” Trump said, after acknowledging that the Danish authorities had been “very kind to him.” “But countries have to have property; and property is defended, leases are not defended. Leases are not defended in the same way: you have to be an owner. When we own it, we defend it,” he insisted.
Trump clarifies, on the other hand, that the United States is not against NATO, despite the fact that the White House has not yet rejected that actions to control Greenland include the use of armed forces. “NATO has to understand that I am totally for NATO. I saved NATO. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have NATO right now,” Trump said.
Just a few hours earlier, his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, was much clearer in an interview with the American television network CNN: “No one is going to confront the United States militarily for the future of Greenland. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, protect and defend NATO and its interests, Greenland should obviously be part of the United States. We live in a world that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.
Source: www.eldiario.es
