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Greenland's Prime Minister, Múte B. Egede, has pushed back against speculation that the island could be up for grabs after US President-elect Donald Trump's announcement this week of its purchase sparked a political firestorm.
"We don't want to be Danish. We don't want to be Americans. We want to be Greenlanders,” he told reporters on Friday after a lengthy meeting in Copenhagen with Danish Commonwealth leaders.
This week, Trump shocked Europe when he refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the world's largest island, an autonomous territory of 57,000 people that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Asked if he had spoken to the incoming US president, Egede said "no, but we are ready to talk", echoing Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's statement on Thursday that she had sought to speak to Trump.
As for what shape the Danish-Greenlandic relationship might take in the future, Egede suggested that Greenland should have its own voice. "There are many things that unite us, but the desire to be the master of one's own house is understandable to everyone in the world," he said.
"When I have to talk to the leader of another country, I have to be together with the Danish ambassador. It's things like this where we want to have our voice. This, I think, is legitimate, when someone wants to build his country on those values", said Egede.
Frederiksen, for her part, emphasized the need to stand together to have a seat at the global table, to address the triple pressures in the Arctic from the US, China and Russia.
"What matters most now is to have more space in foreign policy. It's something we're looking at," she said.
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