When U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. had to take over Greenland as a matter of national security, saying Chinese and Russian ships were “all over the place” in the Arctic region, the comments attracted a swift rebuke from Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Monday hit back, accusing Washington of “using the so-called ‘China threat’ as a pretext for itself to seek selfish gains.”
Russia, on the contrary, has been notably silent on Trump’s Greenland takeover ambitions and his threat to use military force to seize the Arctic island if necessary.
The silence emanating from the Kremlin on the Greenland matter could partly be explained by the fact that it’s been a holiday period for Russians, with Orthodox Christians celebrating Christmas on Jan. 7. Russia’s leadership has yet to comment on the capture of Russian ally Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s leader, last weekend.
Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement criticizing the U.S.′ “aggressive actions” in Venezuela, and on the seizure of a newly Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic on Wednesday. But it too has been silent when it comes to Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory belonging to Denmark.
