The Role of China in the Questions of Greenlandic Independence

• Main Author: Mingming Shi 1989-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Vestnorræn fræði; Sjálfstæði (stjórnmál); Grænland; Kína; Arctic; Greenland; Arctic Island; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/34379

China has been strengthening its presence in the Arctic in recent years, and Greenland is one of the locales where its interest has been growing sharply, via scientific diplomacy, economic cooperation, political ties, and other areas. Greenland, with abundant natural resources and unique geographic significance, has been pursuing independence from its former colonial host, Denmark, in the last few decades. Melting glaciers are opening up more exploitation opportunities and increasing foreign interest on the island, and have sparked concerns from another two vital stakeholders, namely Denmark and the United States for respective reasons. The thesis discusses the importance of China’s investment for possible Greenlandic independence, and other critical factors which may affect the process and analyses the considerations of Denmark and the US. The findings of this paper can be included in several points. First, China’s investment in Greenland is a motivation for its independence movement, even though the former does not intend to support it. Second, Denmark is worried that it would lose sovereignty over this Arctic island, which has benefited the Kingdom in numerous ways. The US is concerned that it would lose its traditional strategic presence in Greenland once the latter attains independence, especially the fiscal source was from China.