DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 22 (Reuters) – NATO Secretary Mark Rutte said on Thursday he and U.S. President Trump had discussed in Davos how the transatlantic alliance should best defend the Arctic against Russia and China.
Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to acquire Greenland, citing national security, but on Wednesday he ruled out using force and suggested a deal was in sight to end the dispute over the Danish overseas territory, following talks with Rutte.
Trump’s ambitions have strained the NATO alliance.
Rutte said he had a “very good discussion” with Trump on how NATO allies can work collectively to ensure Arctic security, including not just Greenland but the seven NATO nations with land in the Arctic.
Further talks would build on the Washington meeting last week between the United States and delegations from Denmark and Greenland.
“One workstream coming out of yesterday … is to make sure when it comes to Greenland, particularly, that we ensure that the Chinese and the Russians will not gain access to the Greenland economy (or) militarily to Greenland,” Rutte told a panel at the World Economic Forum.
China has repeatedly said its scientific expeditions and shipping in the Arctic follow international treaties and laws, accusing the West of distorting facts and hyping up its activities as clues to military intent.
Last week, the state-backed Global Times newspaper said Western media had ignored the fact that China had never made any military deployment in the Arctic, and “sensationalised” the threat of a joint China-Russia military push.
“We firmly oppose attempts by the United States and Europe to label China with terms such as ‘military threat,’ ‘resource grabber’ or ‘rule breaker’ in Arctic affairs,” it said in its editorial.
China has linked its commercial shipping through the Arctic to Europe, with a pioneering journey last October by a Chinese container vessel, halving delivery times.
The United States and Canada scrambled fighter jets in July 2024 after a joint patrol by China and Russia saw nuclear-capable strategic bombers fly near the U.S. state of Alaska in the North Pacific and Arctic.
(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Alessandro Parodi; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Richard Lough, Alex Richardson and Clarence Fernandez)
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