The United States should control Greenland to stave off potential Chinese attempts to take control of the island, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
"It is completely realistic to believe that the Chinese will eventually, maybe in the short term, try to do in Greenland what they have done at the Panama Canal and in other places, and that is to install facilities that give them access to the Arctic with the cover of a Chinese company," Rubio said on Megyn Kelly's show aired Thursday.
Rubio called the scenario unacceptable for the national security. In case of a conflict, China would be able to send its military ships to Greenland and operate from the island, he suggested.
US President Donald Trump called the ownership of Greenland "an absolute necessity" in December. Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede said in response that the island was not for sale. Trump's national security adviser-designate, Mike Waltz, confirmed that the president was serious about considering all options to acquire Greenland, including the use of military force.
Sputnik