Co-Chairs of Arctic Caucus Comment on Trump Administration’s Greenland Posturing
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME), co-chairs of the Senate Arctic Caucus, released the following statements following members of the Trump Administration’s recent comments on Greenland.
“I continue to hope the administration’s rhetoric on Greenland is nothing more than posturing for a new era of cooperation, because any effort to claim or take the territory by force would degrade both our national security and our international relationships,” said Senator Murkowski. “We have a long history of close cooperation with Greenland, dating back to World War II and continuing today with the Pituffik Space Base, and have always been able to achieve our mutual goals through strong diplomacy with its people. As Greenland charts its future, we must see it as an ally, not an asset, and focus on continued partnership rather than possession.”
“America is an Arctic nation, and our strength for decades in the High North has been the collaborative relationships we share with our allies in the Arctic community,” said Senator King. “I’ll bottom line it: there is absolutely no national security reason for us to own, occupy or control Greenland. We have had an Air Force base – which is now a Space Force base – in Greenland for 75 years. Based on my bipartisan work with Senator Murkowski, I know for a fact that the Danes and the Greenlanders do not want to sell their territory, and would certainly be willing to accommodate whatever we believe is necessary to advance and protect our national security and the security of the Arctic region. The fact is we do not need to own the real estate to develop and deploy national security assets in friendly countries.”
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