Trump’s Greenland gambit puts China on edge after Venezuela operation

U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed threat to take control of Greenland has raised alarm in Beijing, following Washington’s military operation that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump, who has long advocated U.S. control over the self-governing Danish territory, repeatedly emphasized on Sunday that Greenland is strategically important.

“We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

In an email to Chinese state media Xinhua News Agency, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump views acquiring Greenland as a national security priority to deter rivals in the Arctic. She added that his team is weighing a range of options — including the possibility of using military force.

Chinese authorities have pushed back. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian criticized Washington for “using the so-called ‘China threat’ as a pretext for itself to seek selfish gains.”

China described itself as a “near-Arctic state” in its 2018 official Arctic Policy, asserting its right to use resources and develop shipping routes in the Arctic.

State-linked Chinese firms have also invested heavily in Arctic energy projects and developed maritime routes that could reduce shipping times between Asia and Europe.

“China would push back hard against any U.S. move to take control of Greenland, given Beijing’s commercial interests on the island — from resource exploration to the security of Arctic shipping routes,” said Xinbo Wu, director at the Center for American Studies at Shanghai-based Fudan University.

The U.S. Defense Department has identified China and Russia as key competitors in the region, pointing to their expanded military capabilities and joint naval patrols as risks to national security.

Beijing could seek to raise costs for Washington through multilateral diplomacy and may deepen military cooperation with Russia in the Arctic region to deter the U.S., Wu said.

“We are really getting into uncharted territory and we have to be extremely careful,” said Henry Wang, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, a think-tank that often aligns with Beijing’s thinking.

“The international community has to work together now and probably stop this kind of unilateral approach.”

Beijing’s main interests in Greenland mirror those of the U.S.: rare earths, uranium and zinc, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group.

Greenland, a vast and sparsely populated autonomous Danish territory, hosts several large rare-earth element deposits, with some discovered mines ranking among the world’s largest. These minerals are crucial for high-tech industries, from electric vehicles to defense equipment.

Besides the U.S. and China, the European Union has also tried to secure access to these critical mineral supplies.

Chinese investors have grown “much more cautious” about Greenland in recent years amid rising geopolitical uncertainty, said Patrik Andersson, an analyst at the Swedish National China Center at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

Denmark retains the legal authority to block foreign investments on national security grounds.

In 2016, a Hong Kong-linked firm attempted to acquire a former Danish naval base and related port facilities, prompting Copenhagen to block the sale. A Chinese state-owned firm also withdrew its bid for an airport construction contract worth 3.6 billion Danish kroner ($563 million) in 2019 after Greenland chose Denmark over Beijing to finance the project.

Andersson noted that in some cases, Chinese interest in Greenland’s minerals appeared to have already declined before the recent rise in geopolitical risk, in part due to the high costs of operating in Greenland.

“From a commercial standpoint, Chinese investors may see more attractive opportunities elsewhere,” he added.

Some Chinese-backed projects in Greenland have also stalled over environmental concerns.

Chinese state-affiliated company Shenghe Resources acquired a stake in the Kvanefjeld project in southern Greenland in 2016. The project, which was set to become one of the world’s largest rare-earth and uranium mines, was halted after Greenland reinstated a ban on uranium mining in 2021.

While some analysts have estimated Chinese investments in the Arctic at over $90 billion and described them as “unconstrained,” Harvard University’s Kennedy School said the figures are “highly exaggerated” because they included failed investments and unbuilt projects.

According to Harvard’s estimates in June 2025, most of the mineral, oil and gas resource projects in Greenland with Chinese backing had been paused or canceled.

Despite those setbacks, Greenland opened its representation office in Beijing in 2023 as the Arctic country sought to deepen ties with Beijing.

China has eyes on new shipping routes opening up as melting ice opens shorter paths between Asia and Europe. China’s exports to the European Union, its second-largest trading bloc, grew 8.1% year-on-year in the first eleven months of 2025.

Beijing formally introduced the “Polar Silk Road” in its 2018 Arctic policy white paper and launched its first Arctic shipping route to Europe in September 2025, cutting transit times to about 20 days, roughly half the time needed for a journey through the Suez Canal.

The alternative sea route presents not only “immense economic opportunities” for Beijing through faster trade and access to untapped natural resources, but also a “strategic challenge to the United States’ dominance of global sea lanes,” said Zoha Fatima, a researcher focused on Arctic governance and geopolitics.

China has also expanded Arctic research efforts over the years, supporting discoveries related to sea ice composition, space weather and marine life.

Building on existing projects in Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Finland, China has also planned a research and satellite ground station in Greenland.

These facilities are crucial for China’s Beidou navigation satellite system, developed as an alternative to the U.S.’s GPS system.

China’s polar research programs have raised security concerns in the Arctic. In 2022, the Biden administration asserted that China used its scientific engagements to conduct “dual-use research with intelligence or military applications.”

“If Trump were to take Greenland, Beijing would frame this as U.S. unilateralism and North Atlantic militarization, while stressing respect for Danish-Greenlandic autonomy and UN-based rules,” said Eurasia’s Wang.

— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng, Emily Tan contributed to this story.