COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark on Wednesday welcomed a U.S. decision to confine a planned visit to Greenland to a military base after the plans triggered a spat between Copenhagen and the White House amid President Donald Trump's interest in taking over the island.
Denmark's prime minister said on Tuesday that a scheduled visit by Usha Vance, the wife of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, to a popular dog-sled race in Greenland this week was part of an "unacceptable pressure" on the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
The White House on Tuesday announced that the delegation would instead be headed by JD Vance himself, but that it would only visit the U.S. Space Base at Pituffik in northern Greenland and not the dog-sled race, a big annual sporting event.
"I think it's very positive that the Americans cancelled their visit to the Greenlandic society. Instead, they will visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that," Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR.
Polls have shown that nearly all Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the United States, and anti-American protesters, some wearing 'Make America Go Away' caps and holding 'Yankees go home' banners, have recently staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Greenland.
Similar protests had been planned in connection with the Vance's visit.
DE-ESCALATION
The change of plans was seen as a de-escalation of the diplomatic dispute.
Ole Waever, professor at the University of Copenhagen, said there had been widespread concerns about "a soft power operation and creeping American infiltration" that many Greenlanders had found threatening.
"The credit for the positive turn must be given to Greenland ... Caps off to them for that," he said, referring to the planned protests.
Marc Jacobsen, associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College, also said the changes were a relief.
"It seems they have misread the mood in Greenland," he said.
The organisers of the dog-sled race said in a statement on Wednesday that they had received grants from the American consulate in Nuuk.
Since Donald Trump Jr.'s private visit to the mineral-rich island in January, Trump has consistently talked of annexing Greenland and urged its residents to join the United States.
One of two U.S. Hercules military transport planes that arrived in Nuuk late on Sunday with bulletproof vehicles onboard has left Nuuk airport, FlightRadar data showed.
Greenland's acting head of government, Mute Egede, had labelled the visit a "provocation," as it coincides with government coalition talks following a recent parliamentary election as well as municipal elections due next week.
Brian Hughes, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said on Tuesday the delegation aimed to "learn about Greenland, its culture, history, and people."
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has disputed the notion of a private visit with official representatives and has repeatedly said that Greenland should determine its own future.
Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede has also stressed that the island is not for sale and that it is up to its people to decide their future.
Greenland is strategically important for the U.S. military and its ballistic missile early-warning system, since the shortest route from Europe to North America runs via the island.
A 1951 agreement between the United States and Denmark established a U.S. right to move around freely and construct military bases in Greenland as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified.
(Reporting by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Sharon Singleton)
