John Ivison: China is infiltrating Trump’s hemisphere, but not in Greenland

The Danish people are feeling shocked, and not a little betrayed, by President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, a constituent part of the Kingdom of Denmark, says one of the country’s most senior diplomats.

“Denmark has done everything the U.S. has asked of us. They called and we delivered: in Iraq, Libya and especially in Afghanistan, where we had the highest casualty rate per capita,” the Danish diplomat said. “The mood is of huge concern.”

The diplomat, who was granted anonymity in order to speak more freely, said the Danes don’t expect a U.S. military invasion but assume Trump will simply declare Greenland a protectorate, raise the Stars and Stripes in the region’s capital, Nuuk, and “kick the Danes out,” he said.

“It would be extremely easy for him to do it if he wants to.”

Trump and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have some history. In his first term, in 2019, the president cancelled a visit to Denmark after she had called his interest in buying Greenland “absurd” and he called her a “nasty woman” in response.

She is not the only one shocked at the resurrection of the idea in 2025, the diplomat said, especially since the Trump administration is well aware that it has an open-ended agreement to increase its military or mining presence in Greenland, as long as it consults Copenhagen.

At one point during the Cold War, the Americans had up to 10,000 personnel in Greenland but that has since dwindled to fewer than 200 at the Pituffik Space Base.

The diplomat said that on a number of occasions in recent years, delegations of Americans have arrived in Denmark to discuss expanding their presence; plans with which the Danes were in full agreement. Ultimately, he said, the resources earmarked for Greenland were allocated elsewhere.

Trump told reporters on Sunday that he’d worry about Greenland “in 20 days” and reiterated his belief that the U.S. needs to own it for national security reasons because “it is covered with Russian and Chinese ships.”

“You know what Denmark did recently to boost up security in Greenland? They added one more dogsled. That’s true,” Trump said.

No, it’s not, the diplomat said. Denmark has actually set aside US$13 billion to upgrade its Arctic capabilities, adding five Arctic vessels, maritime patrol aircraft, long-range drones, satellite capability, air surveillance radar and 16 extra F-35 fighters announced in October (taking the total to 43).

The Danish diplomat said there are no Chinese investments in Greenland and the Danes have blocked some Chinese development plans. Chinese ships are few and far between, he added.

Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, questioned the legality of Denmark’s ownership of Greenland on CNN on Monday. “What is the basis of Greenland being a colony of Denmark?” he asked.

The diplomat pointed to the long history of U.S. recognition of Denmark’s sovereignty, including the 1916 Treaty of the Danish West Indies, which saw America buy three Danish islands in the Caribbean (and unsuccessfully try to buy Greenland).

At the time, then secretary of state Robert Lansing said, as part of the agreement, the U.S. would not object to the Danish government “extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.”

The diplomat pointed out that failure to live up to its own treaty commitments will erode trust in future American assurances, such as security guarantees in Ukraine.

He said decisions about the future of Greenland ultimately reside with its 56,000 people. Opinion polls suggest the vast majority consider any offer to buy their sovereignty to be an insult.

“If they are offered a block grant four times what Copenhagen sends for 50 years and free university tuition in the U.S., you don’t know how they will react. But right now, the mood in Greenland is very, very clear,” he said.

Prime Minister Frederiksen said this week that annexation would be the end of NATO, since it would be one member aggressing another.

But the big question, the diplomat said, is how Europe will respond.

“How will somewhere like Poland react, which has 10,000 U.S. troops stationed there, if Trump threatens to withdraw those troops? You don’t just risk NATO; you could split the European Union.”

Not only does the Greenland adventure seem completely unnecessary — beyond Trump’s desire to add to America’s footprint and his own lustre — it is a distraction from the legitimate issues raised in the recently released national security strategy (NSS) about America’s presence in the western hemisphere.

That document talked about the U.S. becoming the economic and security partner of choice in the region.

Washington must reward and encourage the region’s governments, political parties and movements broadly aligned with American principles, it said. “But we must not overlook governments with different outlooks with whom we share interests and want to work with us.”

The NSS acknowledged that “some foreign influence” will be hard to remove because of political alignment. Still, it said, many governments are not ideologically aligned, yet are attracted to doing business (with China) for cost reasons, even though they know there are strings attached, including espionage, cybersecurity and debt traps.

This is a legitimate attempt to course correct after decades of allowing the Chinese to fill a vacuum in Latin America.

Beijing’s two-way trade with the region exceeded US$500 billion for the first time in 2024. Pew Research found Latin American countries second only to those in Africa when it came to favourable impressions of China.

Peru recently upgraded its free-trade agreement with Beijing and inaugurated its US$3.6 billion Chinese-funded port of Chancay, which is expected to boost bilateral commerce by 50 per cent. The U.S. Southern Command has warned Congress that Chancay could become a dual-use facility, employed by the Chinese navy.

Southern Command also warned about Chinese state-owned enterprises seeking rights to build a polar logistics facility in Argentina, in proximity to the Straits of Magellan.

Colombia has upgraded its relationship with China to “strategic partner” and has become the 23rd country in the region to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China continues to undercut American and EU companies when it comes to public tenders and contracts, thanks to BRI’s cheap financing.

Perhaps most pressing for Trump in the region is China’s influence in the Panama Canal, which appeared to be waning last May when CK Hutchison Holdings of Hong Kong agreed to sell its port operations, including facilities at either end of the canal, to a consortium led by asset manager Black Rock.

However, reports at the turn of the year suggested that the deal to buy 43 terminals in 23 countries may collapse because of Chinese insistence that a state-owned shipping company, Cosco, join the consortium as a condition for regulatory clearance.

The Trump administration claims with characteristic hubris: “This is our Hemisphere.”

But that is a very long way from being true, and annexing Greenland will not help it become more so.

National Post

jivison@criffel.ca