Vance castigates Denmark during Greenland stopover

The US vice-president JD Vance yesterday told American service members that the Danish government has not adequately protected Greenland and insisted the US must do more” to counter what he claimed was Russian and Chinese encroachment” on the strategically important Arctic island, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex.

- ANDREW FEINBERG

Speaking at Pituffik Space Base during a short visit alongside his wife, second lady Usha Vance, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and other administration officials, Mr Vance accused Copenhagen of having “not kept pace with military spending” and failing to allocate sufficient resources necessary to “keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations”.

“Unfortunately, the story of Greenland over the past 20 years when it comes to security is that we've under invested in the infrastructure. We've under invested in the security architecture, and we've under invested in the brave men and women who are doing a very hard job ... to keep all of us safe. That has to change now,” he said.