Vance blunders in Greenland

US Vice-President JD Vance deserved the icy reception he got when – uninvited and told he would not be welcome in the capital, Nuuk – he led a delegation of US officials to Greenland at the weekend. That the Trump administration sees Greenland, the world’s largest island, as vital to US security interests almost defies belief at a time of brazen Chinese expansionism.

The US National Threat Assessment for 2025, produced by controversial Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, warned last week that Beijing “presents the most comprehensive and robust threat to US national security”. The assessment shows that the challenges presented by what The Wall Street Journal describes as the CRINK (China, Russia, Iran and North Korea) countries are vast and immediate. They have been “growing more rapidly in recent years, reinforcing threats from each of them individually while also posing new challenges to US strength and power globally”.

In Australia’s region, it emphasised, Beijing’s conduct in the South and East China seas is “heightening tensions that could trigger a broader conflict”. In 2025, “Beijing will likely apply stronger coercive pressure against Taiwan”.

Next to such challenges, it is irrational that the Trump administration appears to have embarked on a course to abuse and anger the people of Greenland and the government of NATO ally Denmark, Greenland’s administering power. Donald Trump has made “getting it (Greenland) one way or another” a priority. But Mr Vance’s blundering visit on behalf of an unashamedly acquisitive foreign power will not have helped persuade those who matter: Greenland’s 56,000 people, who guard their identity as Greenlanders, and Denmark.

Mr Vance’s wife, Usha, originally was set to travel to Greenland on a cultural and goodwill visit, ostensibly to watch an annual dog sled race. When organisers heard of her plans, she was warned that hostility towards the US was such that she should not go. Mr Vance stepped in and said he would travel to Nuuk with a delegation that included National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. The hostility to that meant Mr Vance could travel only to the US Space Base at Pituffik, 1500km north of Nuuk, and not to the Greenland capital.

The Trump administration must do better if it believes Greenland is vital to US security interests and accepts that the grave strategic challenges outlined in the threat assessment must be faced. Greenlanders deserve to be treated with respect, not bullied. So does Denmark, with which Washington has a 74-year-old treaty that allows the US to increase its military presence in Greenland at any time.