Denmark should focus on the fact that Greenlanders do not want to be a part of the country, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday.
“Greenlanders are going to make a decision,” Rubio told reporters at a Press conference after meeting other Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
However, incoming Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told Danish broadcaster TV2 yesterday that Rubio was not right.
“He is not right that Greenland wants to secede tomorrow. He is right that Greenland does not want to be Danish, but Greenland certainly doesn’t want to be American either,” Nielsen told TV2.
“We work every day to build a foundation so that we can stand on our own in the future, but we are not there yet. What he (Rubio) says doesn’t hold water,” Nielsen added.
Nielson said that talk of annexing the semi-autonomous Danish island was unacceptable.
The comments follow months of tension between Washington on one hand and Copenhagen and Nuuk on the other, over US President Donald Trump’s repeated declarations that the Arctic island should become part of the United States.
“We are human beings up here; we are not a piece of property that can be bought. Partnerships and co-operation can always be discussed, but talk of annexation is unacceptable,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen’s new coalition is expected to formally take office on April 7.
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