Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    World
    Home / World / Americas

    Greenland tells Trump it is not for sale

    Updated: 2019-08-17 00:40
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Colorful houses of the coastal town of Ilulissat in western Greenland. [Photo/IC]

    COPENHAGEN - Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that US President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world's biggest island.

    "We are open for business, but we're not for sale," Greenland's foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters.

    Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

    Talk of a Greenland purchase was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that the notion had been laughed off by some advisers as a joke but was taken more seriously by others in the White House.

    Danish politicians on Friday poured scorn on the idea.

    "It has to be an April Fool's joke. Totally out of season," former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on Twitter.

    "If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad," foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish People's Party, Soren Espersen, told broadcaster DR.

    "The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridiculous," he said.

    Greenland, a self-ruling part of Denmark located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is dependant on Danish economic support. It handles its own domestic affairs while Copenhagen looks after defense and foreign policy.

    "I am sure a majority in Greenland believes it is better to have a relation to Denmark than the United States, in the long term," Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, Danish MP from Greenland's second-largest party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), told Reuters.

    "My immediate thought is 'No, thank you'," she said.

    Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod were not available for comment but officials said they would respond later on Friday. The US Embassy in Copenhagen was also not immediately available for comment.

    "Oh dear lord. As someone who loves Greenland, has been there nine times to every corner and loves the people, this is a complete and total catastrophe," former US ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, said in on Twitter.

    Greenland is gaining attention from global super powers including China, Russia and the United States due to its strategic location and its mineral resources.

    In May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was behaving aggressively in the Arctic and China's actions there had to be watched closely as well.

    A defense treaty between Denmark and the United States dating back to 1951 gives the US military rights over the Thule Air Base in northern Greenland.

    There has been no indication that a Greenland purchase will be on the agenda for Trump's talks with Danish officials.

    Martin Lidegaard, senior lawmaker of the Danish Social Liberal Party and a former foreign minister, called the idea "a grotesque proposal" which had no basis in reality.

    "We are talking about real people and you can't just sell Greenland like an old colonial power," he told Reuters.

    "But what we can take seriously is that the US stakes and interest in the Arctic is significantly on the rise and they want a much bigger influence," he added.

    In 1917 Denmark sold off the then Danish West Indies islands for $25 million to the United States, which renamed them the United States Virgin Islands.

    Reuters

     

    Most Viewed in 24 Hours
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    色窝窝无码一区二区三区成人网站 | 无码少妇一区二区三区 | 中文字幕日韩第十页在线观看 | 免费人妻无码不卡中文字幕系| 亚洲色无码专区在线观看| 久久精品无码一区二区三区免费| 日本久久中文字幕| 亚洲毛片av日韩av无码| 亚洲中文字幕不卡无码| 91在线中文字幕| HEYZO无码综合国产精品| 久久久久久精品无码人妻| 亚洲中文字幕AV在天堂| 无码国产精品一区二区免费模式| 波多野结衣中文字幕免费视频| 国产AV无码专区亚洲AV毛网站| 日韩精品无码一区二区三区AV | 亚洲av无码成人精品区在线播放| 国模无码人体一区二区| 91中文字幕在线观看| 国产自无码视频在线观看| 性无码免费一区二区三区在线 | 国产精品无码A∨精品影院 | 无码国内精品人妻少妇蜜桃视频| 中文字幕一区二区三区在线观看 | 亚洲AV无码成人精品区在线观看 | 暴力强奷在线播放无码| 中文字幕日韩欧美一区二区| 最近最新中文字幕| 日韩欧美一区二区三区中文精品| 中文字幕在线观看| 欧美日韩中文国产va另类电影| 中文成人无码精品久久久不卡 | 中文字幕一区二区三区永久| 亚洲色无码播放| 国产成年无码久久久免费| 最近最新中文字幕视频| 亚洲中文久久精品无码| 精品无码久久久久久尤物| AA区一区二区三无码精片| 无码乱码观看精品久久|