"We are in the middle of a serious time", wrote the Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B Egede when he presented the proposal to hold elections on March 11. "A time that we have never experienced in our country".
The President of the USA, Donald Trump, repeatedly emphasizes Greenland's great strategic importance. The USA should take control of Greenland, he believes, and on January 7, he declared that he does not rule out a military intervention to gain control of the island.
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Desirable natural resources
As the inland ice melts, Greenland's rich mineral deposits become more accessible. Here, on the world's largest island, there are rare earth metals necessary for the production of computers, mobile phones, batteries, and solar cells. Greenland is also estimated to have some of the world's largest untapped reserves of oil and fossil gas.
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New trade routes
The melting sea ice simultaneously opens up for shorter trade routes between the North Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean in the future. Greenland is located at the intersection of North America, Europe, and Asia.
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Strategic location
During World War II, Greenland was occupied by the USA to prevent it from being taken over by Nazi Germany. The USA then retained bases on Greenland after the war and currently has the Pituffik Space Base on Greenland, a base that belongs to the space forces and, among other things, deals with robot defense and surveillance.
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Promises not fulfilled
Trump claims that he needs the island for the USA's national security. Already during his previous presidential term, he expressed a desire to buy Greenland, which was completely rejected by Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S).
However, she promised during a meeting with Trump in London in 2019 a number of things that the USA and NATO had requested: More radar stations and the purchase of drones for surveillance that can warn against Russian robots targeting the USA. This is something Denmark has not yet lived up to.
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Growing Chinese interest
China has long shown interest in the Arctic and signed an agreement with Russia in 2019 to study the possibilities for sea traffic in the Arctic. China has observer status in the Arctic Council and has included the Arctic in the gigantic infrastructure project called the new Silk Road.
