US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday Washington respected the self-determination of Greenlanders but was not going to allow the resource-rich autonomous Danish region to become dependent on China.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to take over the Arctic island for security reasons – to the anger of Copenhagen, a longstanding US ally and NATO member.
"Denmark should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don't want to be a part of Denmark," Rubio said after a meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
"What we're not going to do is let China come in now and offer them a bunch of money and become dependent on China."
Polls show a vast majority of Greenland's 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark but do not wish to become part of the United States.
During a trip to the island last week US Vice President JD Vance made it clear that Washington was going to "respect the self-determination of Greenlanders," Rubio said.
Both Nuuk and Copenhagen viewed the visit as a provocation.
On Thursday, Rubio had reassured his Danish counterpart of the "strong" ties between the two countries, after a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO talks.
With AFP
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