Heading for War: the China-U.S. Rivalry Over Greenland
While Trump’s blunt demand to buy Greenland and threat to invade are received with shock and mockery, the reality is that for years both China and the U.S. have been ramping up their pursuit of economic and military interests there.
Climate change will inevitably open up Arctic sea routes in the next ten to twenty years. They are destined to be objects of naval contention and advantageous shipping routes. In 2019, then secretary of state Mike Pompeo said at an Arctic Council Ministerial Summit, “Steady reductions in sea ice are opening new passageways and new opportunities for trade.”
The Kvanefjeld deposit in South Greenland is the world’s second-largest resource of rare earth oxides. These are used in electric vehicle batteries, wind turbine magnets, and a range of military hardware. A Chinese state-owned company invested in the project – not openly, but through an Australian intermediary.
China has purchased Greenlandic fisheries, sent cruise ships full of big-spending tourists, invited Greenlandic officials on junkets to Beijing, and taken stakes in Greenlandic iron mines they knew were unprofitable. China even tried to buy an abandoned naval base on Greenland’s North Atlantic coast.
Whether it is a port in Greece, copper and cobalt mines in the Congo, or Arctic sea routes and resource contention in Greenland, Chinese monopoly capitalism is out for profit and hegemony. Meanwhile, U.S. imperialism scrambles to fortify its established holdings. The rivalry is classic, reminiscent of the years leading up to World War One. This time, World War Three approaches. None of this benefits the workers of China or the U.S. The solution for them and the world is socialist-communist revolution. The only contest here, a friendly one, is: who will break through first!
(All details from https://www.thewirechina.com/2022/08/14/pole-position/ )
Charles Andrews is the author of The Hollow Colossus and other books.
A list of his occasional essays is at http://www.hollowcolossus.com/moreCA.htm