NEW YORK: Now that United States President Donald Trump is making good on some campaign pledges, like sweeping tariffs levied against Canada, Mexico and China, the question is whether he will follow through on other ideas. How far might he take his desire to buy Greenland?
Mr Trump cites China as a justification for acquiring this autonomous territory of Denmark. And his insistence - to the point that a recent phone call with the Danish prime minister was described as “horrendous” - has raised eyebrows in Beijing, where officials and scholars are trying to decipher what Mr Trump wants and what it means for China.
“We need it for international security,” he said on his first day in office. “You have Russian boats all over the place, you have China’s boats all over the place - warships.”
Beijing’s ambitions in the Arctic are real. China brands itself a “near-Arctic state”.
The country has been pursuing regional partnerships through a “Polar Silk Road” plan to create faster shipping routes and research projects that could have dual-use applications (for both civilian and military purposes). Greenland’s vast reserves of rare earth minerals - critical for high-tech industries from electric vehicles to missile systems - could make it an attractive target for Chinese investment.
