White House says Denmark has neglected Greenland as Vance makes Arctic visit

The White House accused Denmark of neglecting Greenland last night as the US vice-president, JD Vance, landed for an unsolicited visit to the Arctic island.

- Miranda Bryant

Shortly after flying into the ice-locked US military base at Pituffik in north-west Greenland yesterday with his wife, Usha, and other US officials, Vance told US troops he was "really interested in Arctic security".

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades," he said. Vance also said it was "cold as shit here" as he arrived to temperatures of -19C.

A senior White House official said he would make the case that Danish leaders have "spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second-class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair".

In the White House, Donald Trump reiterated his claims that the US needed Greenland for "world peace".

"I think Greenland understands that the United States should own it. And if Denmark and the EU don't understand it, we have to explain it to them," he said in a press conference. "We need Greenland. Very importantly, for international security, we have to have Greenland." There were, he added, "Chinese and Russian ships all over the place".

Hours before, in Nuuk, the capital, political leaders agreed to form a broad four-party coalition government in a show of national unity.