China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. Viewed from Beijing, Trump’s moves on Greenland represent further proof that the US-led world order is in turmoil, a trend that creates a significant opportunity for China. However, when it comes to Greenland, Chinese stakeholders have struggled to gain a significant foothold, in part because of resistance from the US and Denmark. On Monday, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) urged the US to stop using the “so-called ‘China threat’” in Greenland as a pretext for imposing tariffs on European countries. Between 2012 and 2017, China’s foreign direct investment in Greenland represented more than 11 percent of the territory’s GDP, a far greater share than in other arctic nations.
