Denmark has said that it will summon the US ambassador to Copenhagen over new Greenland claims.
It comes after reports that US intelligence agencies have been ordered to increase espionage in Greenland were reported in Wall Street Journal.
The Danish foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said that he was concerned about the report in the Wall Street Journal, saying: “It worries me a lot, because we don’t spy between friends.”
Speaking on his way to Warsaw, Rasmussen added: “I can’t know if it’s true because it’s in a newspaper. But it doesn’t seem to be strongly rejected by those who speak out. That worries me.”
The newspaper quoted a national security council spokesman, James Hewitt, as saying: “The president has been very clear that the US is concerned about the security of Greenland and the Arctic.”
The intelligence gathering reportedly will focus in part on identifying individuals in Greenland and Denmark who support the Trump administration’s interest in taking over the island.
Trump
Also, Trump refused to rule out seizing the territory by force in an interview with NBC that was broadcast last week.
“I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything,” he said. “We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.”
During a joint session of Congress in March he also said: “One way or the other, we’re going to get it.”
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