Washington (AFP)
Buy Greenland, as formerly Louisiana? The intention, given to Donald Trump, seems to be the last fad of a president who likes to definitely get away from diplomatic codes. But it also reveals the growing strategic interest of the United States for the Arctic, against Russia but also China.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which reported Thursday that idea seemingly hanging in the head of the ex-real estate mogul, White House advisers themselves have had mixed reactions to the seriousness to be given to this request. But the fact is that the Republican billionaire would have inquired several times about the possibility, for Washington, to buy this gigantic Arctic island of 56,000 inhabitants.
Problem: Greenland is not one of those little paradise islands that the wealthiest can afford. And international relations have changed somewhat since 1803, when the France of Napoleon Bonaparte was selling Louisiana to the United States.
In other words, Greenland is "open for business, not for sale," the Greenland government said on Friday.
Autonomous territory since 1979, the island is institutionally attached to Denmark - where Donald Trump must just go in two weeks.
For behind the presidential interest hides an American awareness of the importance of Greenland, but also, more broadly, of the entire Arctic region.
"The administration discovers, very late, the geostrategic role of the Arctic," says AFP Heather Conley, of the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In addition to Denmark's Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Iceland in early September to "expand business opportunities" and "enhance security in the Arctic region". And the head of the American diplomacy, Mike Pompeo, participated in May in Finland in a meeting of the Arctic Council.
His speech was considered a turning point in Washington's involvement.
- Ice melting and "commercial opportunities" -
"The region has become an area of global power and competition," he said. But to denounce "the aggressive attitude" of Beijing and Moscow, marking his suspicion of massive Chinese investments and "footprints" that the Russian military would leave "in the snow" by their "provocative actions".
For Luke Coffey, an expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, "Russia is in her right" when she develops her military activities at home, since she owns half of the Arctic territory. "The problem is that there is no guarantee that Russia will remain within its borders," he told AFP, referring to Moscow's interventionism in Georgia, Ukraine or Syria.
China, for its part, without being a regional power in its own right, has developed a presence that remains for the moment mostly economic and scientific. It weaves its web to win markets and hopes to eventually benefit from the northern route, which shortens the path between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
The United States has "abandoned the region after the end of the Cold War," said Heather Conley, saying that the Trump administration must now build a policy to move from words to action.
In this context, Greenland is "strategically important", she adds.
"Greenland is absolutely vital to the defense and security of North America," adds Coffey, emphasizing the importance of Thule's US air base, with its radars indispensable for air defense.
Faced with Russia and China, the expert suggests extending the US diplomatic presence, while Mike Pompeo announced a "part-time" representation in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous territory.
But also to strengthen economic ties with Greenland, rich in natural resources (oil, gas, gold, diamonds, uranium, zinc, lead) and where Beijing has a license for a rare earth mine.
The US Secretary of State noted the economic importance of the region.
"The regular retreat of the pack ice is opening up new routes and offering new business opportunities," said Pompeo in Finland, despite the climate-skepticism of the Trump administration's refusal to mention climate change. in the Arctic Council's final declaration.
Comments denounced for their cynicism by environmental advocates, while a whole territory like Greenland is threatened with melting because of the warming.
© 2019 AFP