While Western media called Republican President-elect Donald Trump a “madman” for suggesting he would buy or “invade” Greenland, China is quietly building up a new maritime Silk Road in the Arctic Ocean with Russia’s assistance.
On December 22, 2024, Trump wrote in an X post that “for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
On January 7, he told the media that he would not rule out using military or economic force in order to take over the autonomous Danish territory.
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Like Trump, China has an eye on Greenland’s strategic significance in the Arctic. In 2018, Chinese state-owned contractor China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) bid to build airports in Greenland, but it withdrew the bid in 2019.
Some Chinese buyers had also sought to buy private land in Svalbard but the sale was blocked by the Norwegian government last July on national security grounds.
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In a letter sent to the US Pentagon last October, the US Congress’ Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expressed concerns about China’s growing presence in the Arctic.
Elizabeth Buchanan, a senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a polar geopolitics expert, told Nikkei Asia that if the US controls Greenland, China will have to change its Arctic strategy as an arms race will boost shipping insurance premiums in the region.
Read entire piece here:
https://asiatimes.com/2025/01/why-chinas-ice-silk-road-has-trump-up-in-arctic-arms/
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