At a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday, United States President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his desire to acquire Greenland, which he said was critical to American national security.
The Republican leader, who is set to be inaugurated on January 20, refused to rule out using military or economic power to achieve the goal of taking over the autonomous Danish territory.
Its capital, Nuuk, is closer to New York (some 2,900km or 1,800 miles) than Copenhagen, which is located 3,500km (2,174 miles) to the east.
The island was under Danish rule from the early 18th century until 1979, when it became a self-governing territory. Since 2009, Greenland has the right to declare independence through a referendum.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede has called for independence from Denmark.
The Arctic island is one of Denmark’s two autonomous territories, the other one being the Faroe Islands.
Since Denmark is a part of NATO, Greenland is by default a part of the North Atlantic military alliance.
Greenland is not a member state of the European Union, but is associated with it as one of the 25 overseas countries and territories (OCTs) of the EU. “OCT nationals are EU citizens,” an EU law website says. Hence, Greenlanders are considered to be EU citizens.
In 1973, Greenland joined the now-defunct European Community with Denmark, but left in 1985. The EU has replaced the European Community.
