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Greenland isn’t for sale but it is increasingly valuable
WASHINGTON, Aug 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump’s reported wish
to buy Greenland may have been rejected by Denmark, but it underscores the
rapidly rising value of the massive, ice-covered island due to global warming
and to China’s drive for an Arctic presence.
The accelerating polar ice melt has left sparsely populated Greenland, a
self-governing part of Denmark, astride what are potentially major shipping
routes and in the crosshairs of intensifying geopolitical competition between
superpowers.
It also has untapped natural resources like oil, minerals and valuable
rare earth elements that China, the United States and other major tech
economies covet.
A Chinese government-backed group’s offer last year to build three new
international airports on Greenland sparked alarms in Copenhagen and
Washington.
The Chinese plan was finally nixed in exchange for Danish funding and a
pledge of support from the Pentagon.
Trump’s idea to buy Greenland, reported by the Wall Street Journal on
Friday, “is not a serious proposal,” said Heather Conley, a specialist at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
But, “The administration has awoken to the Arctic as a geostrategic
issue,” she said.
– Strategic value since WWII –
Greenland has been essential to US defense since World War II when it was
a base for monitoring Nazi ships and submarines passing through the “Arctic
Avenue,” the sea gateway to the north Atlantic.
In 1943 the US Air Force built its farthest-north air base at Thule,
Greenland.
Thule was crucial in the Cold War, a first line of monitoring against a
potential Russian attack. With a population of 600, the base today is part of
the NATO mission, operating satellite monitoring and strategic missile
detection systems and handling thousands of flights a year.
“The early warning radar system in northern Greenland helps protect North
America and is a key part of our missile defense apparatus,” said Luke Coffey
of The Heritage Foundation.
“Luckily the US is able to ensure and meet its security interests by
maintaining this air base in northern Greenland. There’s no requirement to
buy Greenland to keep America safe.”
– ‘Aggressive’ China and Russia –
Conley said that after the Cold War ebbed in the 1990s, Washington stopped
thinking about the Arctic.
Yet as the polar ice sheet began to shrink, the Russians became more
active and China has moved to establish itself in the region.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underscored the revived US interest in a
speech in May in Finland, where he slammed China and Russia for “aggressive
behavior” in the Arctic.
“The region has become an arena of global power and competition” owing to
vast reserves of oil, gas, minerals and fish stocks, he warned.
“Just because the Arctic is a place of wilderness does not mean it should
become a place of lawlessness,” he said.
But Washington has not taken many concrete actions, Conley said. Pompeo
only offered that the State Department would position a diplomat in
Greenland’s capital Nuuk for six months of the year.
“The rhetoric and the reaction — there is a very big gap,” she said.
– Arctic newcomer China – With no geographical claim to the region, but
whose massive commercial shipping industry would benefit from new polar
routes as the ice melts, China is the newcomer whose presence could shift the
balance.
It began sending scientific missions in 2004. In the past several years, a
Chinese company has gained mining rights for rare earths, partnering with an
Australian company in the Kvanefjeld project.
In January 2018 Beijing unveiled its “Polar Silk Road” strategy to extend
its economic footprint through the Arctic.
To gain favor in Nuuk, the Chinese have wined and dined government
officials, said Coffey.
“China’s role in the Arctic has been more about expanding its economic
influence, soft power,” said Coffey.
“Ice melting is part of the interest, it is opening up new economic
opportunities, but it’s also opening up challenges. The US is aware of that,”
he said.
In a sign of Washington’s rekindled interest, US President Donald Trump
will go to Denmark in September, and Vice President Mike Pence will visit
Iceland.
But Conley says more assertive moves are needed.
“I think we have a remarkably strong position now in Greenland. Denmark is
an incredibly strong military partner to the US,” she said.
“But if we are interested in potentially being an alternative to Greenland
looking towards China for investment, are we going to put US investment
there? I’ve not seen any of that.”
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