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One of Donald Trump’s senior advisors has increased tensions on Denmark by disputing Copenhagen’s claim to Greenland.

Military Intervention Dismissed

Stephen Miller, stated emphatically military intervention would not be needed to assume control of the Arctic territory because “no nation would engage the United States militarily over the fate of Greenland”.

“The idea of military action against Greenland? Greenland has a population of 30,000 people,” Miller inaccurately claimed, the correct number being closer to 57,000.

Miller further proposed that Denmark does not have a valid claim to the territory, which is a former Danish colony and remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Growing Tensions

These remarks follow a period of growing tensions between the US and Denmark after the American leader's repeated interest to purchase Greenland.

The Danish foreign policy committee has convened an extraordinary meeting to discuss the bilateral ties with the United States.

In his interview, Miller told CNN that control over Greenland could be achieved without military intervention due to its small population.

Questioning Danish Sovereignty

“The real question is on what grounds does Denmark have to assert control over Greenland? What legal foundation of their ownership claim?” Miller questioned.

He added: “The US is the power of NATO. For the US to secure the Arctic region to defend NATO, obviously Greenland should be incorporated into the United States.”

There was, he said “no need to even think or talk about” a armed takeover in Greenland, adding: “No country would wage war against the US militarily.”

Global Responses

His comments followed Trump remarked recently, fresh from events in Venezuela, that the US needed Greenland “urgently”.

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, responded by warning that an attack by the US a fellow alliance member would mean the collapse of the defensive pact and “the postwar security order”.

The island's own leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, issued a forceful rebuke, urging Trump to abandon his “fantasies about annexation” and labeled American rhetoric of being “completely and utterly unacceptable”.

Background and Present Position

The aide's assertions were preceded by his wife, a conservative commentator, shared a digital image of Greenland under a US flag with the tag “IN THE NEAR FUTURE”.

When questioned on the social media post, he laughed and said: “This has represented the formal position of the US government from the beginning of this administration... Donald Trump has been explicit about that.”

The territory was under colonial rule until 1953, when it was integrated of the kingdom of Denmark. The US has had a strategic installation there, critical to its national missile defense network.

Recently, there has been growing support for Greenlandic independence, especially following disclosures about Denmark’s treatment of the local population.

But amid the prospect of Trump’s threat, Greenland in March established a new coalition government in a show of national unity, with its founding document declaring: “Greenland belongs to us.”