Denmark's prime minister has said her country faces a "decisive moment" in its diplomatic battle with the United States over Greenland, after President Donald Trump again suggested using force to seize the Arctic territory.
Ahead of meetings in Washington from Monday on, the global scramble for key raw materials, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Sunday that "there is a conflict over Greenland."
"This is a decisive moment" with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland's future, she added in a debate with other Danish political leaders.
Frederiksen posted on Facebook that "we are ready to defend our values — wherever it is necessary — also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples' right to self-determination."
Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Trump's latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned US "threatening rhetoric" after Trump repeated that Washington was "going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not."
"Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends," he told a defence conference in Salen, where the US general in charge of NATO took part.
Kristersson said a US takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be "a violation of international law and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way."
'One way or the other'
Later, Trump again argued that taking over Greenland is necessary for the US to prevent Russia or China from gaining control of the strategic Arctic territory of Denmark.
"If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland, and I am not going to let that happen ... but one way or the other, we're going to have Greenland," Trump told reporters on Sunday on Air Force One en route to Washington, DC, from Florida.
Trump said Greenland should agree to such a deal for its own security and future.
"Greenland should make the deal, because Greenland does not want to see Russia or China take over," he said.
The president stressed that he is not interested in a temporary arrangement, such as leasing territory, but rather a permanent acquisition.
"We're talking about acquiring, not leasing, not having it short-term. We're talking about acquiring. If we don't do it, Russia or China will, and that's not going to happen when I'm president," he added.
Noting the presence of US bases on Greenland, he the US needs "more than that."
"You need ownership ... You really need title."
