China’s envoy to Denmark lashes out at ‘unprovoked attacks’ from US over Greenland
- Feng Tie says American ambassador was ‘speaking absurdities’ when she criticised China for ‘calling itself an Arctic state’
- Carla Sands also accused Beijing of advancing ‘predatory economic interests’ in the region
China’s envoy to Denmark has hit back at claims from the United States about Beijing’s involvement in Greenland, calling them “absurdities”.
In an opinion piece in Danish-language newspaper Altinget on Wednesday, Feng accused US ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands of launching “unprovoked attacks” on China.
He was responding to a piece by Sands in the same newspaper on April 20, in which she claimed China was advancing “predatory economic interests and [projecting] its authoritarian values” in Arctic regions like Greenland, an autonomous island in the North Atlantic that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The exchange over China’s role in the Arctic was fuelled by an apparent translation error between Danish and English.
In the Danish version of Sands’ article, she blasts China for “calling itself an Arctic state”, despite being far from the region.
Feng replied that “the American ambassador is speaking absurdities. When has China ever called itself an ‘Arctic state’?”
But in an English version of Sands’ piece on the US embassy website, she criticises China for calling itself a “near Arctic state”, referencing a 2018 Chinese government white paper on Beijing’s relationship to the region.
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Andreas Forsby, a researcher with the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, said China would face difficulty, and US opposition in building any presence in Greenland.
“Over the past couple of years, the Trump administration has been very explicit in its communication about not wanting China to be engaged in Greenland in any meaningful sense,” he said.
“China’s investment plans in recent years have been blocked by the Danish government, under pressure from Washington.”
Last year the China Communications Construction Company, a state-owned firm, withdrew its bid to build two airport projects in Greenland.
“China has by now read the writing on the wall: Greenland is part of the US’ geopolitical zone of influence,” Forsby said. “That is, Beijing has, in my view, realised that it will need to back off with respect to Greenland.”
America also sent four military ships into the Barents Sea between Russia and Greenland last week, their first such operation in the area since 1980, the US Navy said.
