JD Vance Condemns 'What Denmark Has Done' During Visit To Greenland Military Base

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At a press briefing at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Vice President JD Vance spoke about Denmark and the U.S.'s ambitions for Greenland.  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00So, number one, I think a lot of Americans wonder, why does Greenland matter so much?

00:05Why does the mission of this base matter so much to the American people?

00:09And I learned a lot about that today myself.

00:11Of course, you can read about it in a book, but I saw it up close and personal.

00:14And if, God forbid, to my fellow Americans, if a missile was fired from an enemy country

00:20or an enemy submarine into the United States, it is the people here before us who would

00:25give notice to our brave men and women further south in the United States to let people know

00:31what was coming and, God willing, to try to shoot it down and prepare for it.

00:35That's one of the things that we do at installations like this.

00:39We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic

00:45passageways and Arctic naval routes and, indeed, in the minerals of the Arctic territories.

00:51We need to ensure that America is leading in the Arctic because we know that if America

00:55doesn't, other nations will fill the gap where we fall behind.

01:00So what you guys do is so critically important.

01:04I think a lot of Americans, certainly I, didn't realize it fully until President Trump started

01:09talking about the importance of our Arctic mission, about building upon it, and ensuring

01:14that America can lead in the Arctic for the next generation.

01:17And now I want to talk about, of course, the interaction and what Denmark, I think,

01:23has done and sometimes in partnership with us, but let's be honest, what Denmark over

01:28the last 20 years has failed to do in some cases because we know that, unfortunately,

01:34this place, this base, this surrounding area is less secure than it was 30, 40 years ago

01:42because some of our allies haven't kept up.

01:45As China and Russia have taken greater and greater interest in Greenland, in this base,

01:50in the activities of the brave Americans right here, we know that too often our allies in

01:55Europe have not kept pace.

01:57They haven't kept pace with military spending, and Denmark has not kept pace in devoting

02:02the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep

02:07the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from

02:13China, and from other nations.

02:14Now, President Trump, as he says all the time and as a lot of people recognize, is a president

02:19of peace.

02:20We want to have good relationships with everybody.

02:22That includes even, to the extent possible, the Chinese and the Russians, but part of

02:27having good relations is showing your strength when you have to, and unfortunately, the story

02:33of Greenland over the past 20 years when it comes to security is that we've underinvested

02:38in the infrastructure, we've underinvested in the security architecture, and we've underinvested

02:44in the brave men and women who are doing a very hard job, as Mike said, to keep all

02:48of us safe.

02:50That has to change.

02:52Now, when I pointed out a couple of weeks ago that in some ways, with all due respect

02:57to our Danish allies, they had not kept pace, there was a lot of criticism from Denmark,

03:02a lot of attacks at the Trump administration, at the president, at me, at others in our

03:07administration for saying the obvious, which is that Denmark hasn't done a good job at

03:13keeping Greenland safe.

03:14And one of the things I heard was, well, what about the many Danes who lost their lives

03:19in the war on terror fighting alongside the United States?

03:22Well, look, we obviously honor the sacrifice of our Danish friends in the war on terror

03:2720 years ago, just as, for example, the French honor the sacrifice of Americans in Normandy

03:3380 years ago.

03:35But recognizing that there are important security partnerships in the past does not mean that

03:41we can't have disagreements with allies in the present about how to preserve our shared

03:46security for the future.

03:48And that's what this is about.

03:49There is no amount of bullying, no amount of obfuscating, no amount of confusing the

03:55issue.

03:56Our message to Denmark is very simple.

03:58You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.

04:02You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security

04:06architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people.

04:11That has to change.

04:13And because it hasn't changed, this is why President Trump's policy in Greenland is what

04:17it is.

04:18It's consistent with the first Trump administration, where you saw significant investments in Arctic

04:23security, and it will continue over the next four years under President Trump's leadership.

04:27And let me finally, before I kick it over to the media, make one comment about the people

04:31of Greenland.

04:33I, you know, the colonel here, the base commander, who came here first as a second lieutenant,

04:38and I guess, Colonel, this is your second duty station here, and we're proud of you

04:42and proud of all of you guys who are serving and helping keep us safe.

04:46You know, I heard a lot about the respect that our American troops show for the local

04:51Greenlandic population, the way that we make and create shelter for hunters and dog slithers,

04:57the way that we found ways to turn over traditional tribal land to some of the local populations

05:03in order to ensure that they're able to live in accordance with their values.

05:07We respect, as the president said in his State of the Union address, we respect the self-determination

05:13of Greenlandic, Greenlanders, excuse me.

05:16We believe in the self-determination of the population of the people of Greenland.

05:21And our argument is very simple.

05:23It is not with the people of Greenland, who I think are incredible and have an incredible

05:28opportunity here.

05:30Our argument really is with the leadership of Denmark, which is under-invested in Greenland

05:36and under-invested in security architecture.

05:38That simply must change.

05:40It is the policy of the United States that that will change, and I'm proud to be able

05:44to stand here with so many brave Americans to better understand the security mission

05:48and better understand what you guys do each and every day.

05:51For that, I'm grateful for your service.

05:53I'm even more grateful.

05:54I love you guys.

05:55I'm proud of you guys, and President Trump stands behind you and will for the remainder

05:59of his administration.

06:00Thank you all.

06:01God bless you.

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