WASHINGTON—Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and diplomats from several other countries in the Arctic Council voiced opposition on Thursday to President Donald Trump’s statements about Greenland.
“I am not one who believes that threatening another country is a good diplomatic tool,” said Murkowski, whose Arctic state borders Canada and Russia.
The Republican senator, known for her conflicts with Trump, criticized what she called “careless rhetoric from our own leadership,” adding, “That doesn’t help us.”
She also took issue with Trump’s proposal to make Canada the 51st state, noting its cooperation with the United States on the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD.
“When you have strong partners for a host of different reasons, it does not help with that partnership when you use words and terminologies and phrases repeatedly that are alarming,” she said.
Murkowski made the comments at a June 12 event organized by the Arctic Institute and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
With geopolitical tensions heating up in the Arctic, Trump has repeatedly said the United States should seek to acquire Greenland, citing its strategic location for national security and its rare earth reserves.
“We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and, if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America,” Trump said on March 6 in a joint address to Congress, addressing those in the autonomous territory of Denmark.
Trump has not ruled out using force to acquire the world’s largest island.
The world’s largest island already hosts a U.S. installation, Pituffik Space Base. It had a much larger American military footprint during the Cold War.
Trump Crossing ‘Red Lines’: Danish Ambassador
The June 12 event at which Murkowksi spoke also included a panel with officials from Greenland, Denmark, and Norway. The histories of all three countries are deeply intertwined.
The territory, which is currently part of the Danish realm, was a colony under the Norwegian crown until Denmark and Norway split in 1814.
Greenland’s representative to the United States and Canada, Jacob Isbosethsen, stressed Greenland’s right to decide its own destiny.
“Greenland is not for sale,” he said, describing recent months as “a very difficult period.”
“Our government [has] clearly stated that we don’t want to be Danes, we don’t want to be Americans,” he said. “We want to be ourselves. We are Greenlanders.”
A law passed in 2009 allows Greenland to seek independence, a widespread aspiration in the territory. But Greenland has not yet embarked on that lengthy, multi-stage journey.
Danish Ambassador Jesper Moller Sorensen suggested that the talk of acquiring Greenland has damaged the perception of the United States in Denmark.
“Talking about ownership and taking control—that is stepping over a line where we have had to say this is crossing red lines, and this is not the way that great strong partners collaborate,” he added.
Norway’s ambassador to the United States, Anniken Huitfeldt, said her country “fully support[s] the Kingdom of Denmark on this.”
“We should stay away from changing the geography and the borders of that area,” she said. “Change borders? That was the main way to conduct foreign policy before World War II. We should stop doing that.”
Diplomatic, Security Needs Broached
Murkowski noted that the post of Arctic ambassador, previously occupied by Mike Sfraga, remains vacant.
“There’s a hole there,” Murkowski said, suggesting that the absence of such an ambassador undercut diplomacy among Arctic nations.
While Trump’s talk of acquiring Greenland drew opposition from the speakers, the prospect of more cooperation on security, including an expanded American military presence, met with a warmer reception.
“If the United States would like to have more military bases in Greenland, sit down and talk about it as we’ve done always in the past,” said Sorensen.
The day before the panel, Denmark’s parliament passed legislation permitting the United States to situate military bases in Greenland.
Sørensen emphasized that there was no Danish pressure on the United States to scale back its military presence in Greenland after the Cold War, describing American detachment from the territory as the “U.S. position” at the time.
Huitfeldt said Norway, which maintains universal conscription, was helping protect the United States through its military activities in the High North. Both Denmark and Norway belong to NATO.
“All those nuclear weapons are not aimed at Norway or Oslo. [They are] aimed at you,” she said.
Huitfeldt showed a photo that she said depicted a Russian bomber flying side-by-side with a Norwegian-operated Lockheed Martin F-35.
“I think you need to operate closely with us up there to be prepared,” she told the Washington audience.
