Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen after a report that Americans had been conducting covert operations in Greenland. The aim was to infiltrate society and promote its secession from Denmark to the US. Danish intelligence warned Greenland was being targeted by “various kinds of influence campaigns”. A state department spokesperson said they had had a “productive conversation” that “reaffirmed the strong ties” between Greenland, Denmark and the US. The US had always respected the right of the people of Greenland to “determine their own future”. Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said “any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom [of Denmark] will of course be unacceptable”. US President Trump has said several times he wants to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Denmark’s foreign minister said the government was “aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark”. Denmark is a member of Nato and the European Union and has long seen the US as one of its closest allies. Danish PET security and intelligence service said influence campaigns would aim to “create discord in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland”. The US currently has no ambassador in Copenhagen, so Rasmussen has summoned Mark Stroh, who as charge d’affaires is the most senior diplomat in the Danish capital. Lars Lokke Rasmussen has already summoned the US charge d’affaires in Denmark this year in response to a separate report suggesting US spy agencies had been told to focus their efforts on Greenland. A report gave details of a visit by one American to Greenland’s capital Nuuk, saying he was seeking to compile a list of Greenlanders who backed US attempts to take over the island. Greenland has a complex relationship with Denmark, with broad self-government since 1979, but its foreign and defence policy is made in Copenhagen. Most of its political parties favour independence, but they disagree on how quickly they should push for it. Polls suggest the vast majority of Greenlanders have no wish to become part of the US. Greenland leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen made clear that the US would not be taking over the territory: “We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.” The Danish foreign minister’s decision to summon the US charge d’affaires amounts to a “diplomatic yellow card” unprecedented in Danish relations with the US. One of Denmark’s biggest companies has already been caught in the crosshairs of the US government, following an order to stop the construction of a big wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.
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