WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his desire to annex the autonomous territory of Greenland from Denmark in the interest of "international security."
"I think it will happen," Trump told reporters at the White House alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, when asked about his vision for the annexation. He pointed at Rutte and added the NATO chief could be "very instrumental" in the move.
"You know Mark, we need that for international security... we have a lot of our favorite players cruising around the coast and we have to be careful," he said, apparently referring to rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic region.
Trump's threats to take over the resource-rich Arctic island have shined an unprecedented global spotlight on the territory, as he has previously refused to rule out the use of force to "get Greenland."
The US president's comments come days after Greenland's elections, with all the political parties, and the majority of the island's 57,000 inhabitants, backing independence -- though they disagree on how quickly the process should go.
Rutte said that he would not be involved in any question of Greenland becoming part of the United States, saying: "I don't want to drag NATO in that." However, "when it comes to the high north and the Arctic, you are totally right," Rutte said.
"The Chinese are now using these routes. We know that the Russians are rearming. We know we have lack of icebreakers."
"So the fact that the seven -- outside Russia -- seven Arctic countries working together on this under US leadership is very important to make sure that that region, that part of the world stays safe," Rutte said.