The Arctic has become “increasingly important” in recent years. A key reason, he explains, is the strategically important sea and air corridor between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom, known as the GIUK gap. This area is considered a critical obstacle to Russian naval and submarine movements between the North Atlantic and the Arctic.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, has been in the news for weeks. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly raised the idea that the United States should acquire the Arctic territory. In a recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he struck a conciliatory tone towards NATO allies. Although Trump again insisted that Greenland should belong to the United States, he stressed that he would not try to achieve this by force. Trump is presenting the proposal as a matter of national security, arguing that China or Russia could try to gain influence on the island and accusing NATO and Denmark of failing to ensure Greenland’s security in recent years. According to him, only the United States is ultimately able to guarantee this.
Denmark and several NATO partners responded last weekend by sending a reconnaissance mission to Greenland. The deployment also included 15 soldiers from the German armed forces, who were originally scheduled to stay until January 20 but were pulled out the day before due to adverse weather conditions.
According to Henrik Schilling of the Institute for Security Policy (ISPK) at Kiel University, it is important to distinguish between peacetime operations and wartime deployments, as each has very different requirements. “If the runway is completely frozen, you wouldn’t sit there in peacetime, but in wartime the calculation would be different,” Schilling explained to Euronews. Reports indicate that Donald Trump initially “misunderstood” the Danish-led mission, but was later assured by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. However, Schilling said that such a mission did not come “out of nowhere” from his perspective. The naval forces regularly participate in exercises in the Arctic Region. He pointed to the supplier of the “Berlin” task force, which returned to Germany in December last year after taking part in multinational maneuvers in the North Atlantic and off the US coast.
Is Greenland important to Germany’s and Europe’s national security? Donald Trump has justified his calls for the United States to take control of Greenland by referring to American national security interests. Even though the US state of Alaska already borders Russia, Trump claims that Washington must prevent Russia or China from gaining influence over Greenland and thus becoming direct neighbors of the United States.
According to security expert Henrik Schilling, the Arctic has become “increasingly important” in recent years. A key reason, he explains, is the strategically important sea and air corridor between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom, known as the GIUK gap. This area is considered a critical obstacle to Russian naval and submarine movements between the North Atlantic and the Arctic. “In addition, there are likely to be alternative airfields in Greenland. If something were to happen in the Atlantic, operations could be carried out from there.” Overall, according to Schilling, the Arctic is becoming an increasingly important Region. He noted the competing territorial claims of neighboring countries, including Russia, as well as the growing presence of China.
Schilling argued that the main driver is that “entirely new supply routes are emerging in the Region.” As the ice continues to melt, large parts of the Arctic could become increasingly ice-free in the future and therefore usable for commercial shipping.
However, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that China or Russia want to directly take control of Greenland. Beijing has firmly rejected such accusations. It denies any intention to undermine the United Nations Charter and emphasizes its self-proclaimed role as a defender of state sovereignty. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called on the United States on Monday to stop citing the alleged “Chinese threat” in Greenland as justification for punitive tariffs on European countries.