The Real Story behind Greenland

Beijing's polar strategy is linked to the prospect of finding deposits of "rare earth materials," such as praseodymium, yttrium, and lanthanum, which are used in lasers, magnets, semiconductors, specialty glass, ceramics and nuclear batteries.

China already controls the mining and extraction of most of the world's rare earth materials -- all crucial for the global economy -- and may be in talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan to obtain more: Afghanistan's mountains are among a handful of places in the world where large deposits of these materials exist. Unfortunately, the US is largely dependent upon China for these materials, which also lie beneath the huge ice masses of Greenland. This circumstance might well explain China's vigorous effort to conclude major infrastructure contracts with Greenland's government. Beijing is proposing to build several airports, harbors, roads and railways in Greenland, which would facilitate the transport of rare earth materials -- once they are excavated -- to China.

Beijing-administered airports in Greenland, however, could pose a strategic threat to America's ally, Canada. Also at risk under such a scenario would be the US military facility in Thule, Greenland, which serves as an early-warning node for a nuclear attack on the North American continent. To counter this potential threat, the Trump administration and fellow NATO member state, Denmark -- which owns Greenland -- have preempted China's plans by agreeing to finance the proposed airports. But China's drive for eventual primacy in the Arctic region also extends to the Danish-owned, self-governing network of the 18 Faroe Islands, located midway between Norway and Iceland in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The US and China currently are competing for influence in the Faroe Islands, with Beijing offering to increase the importation of fish on condition that the islanders agree to utilize China's wireless network system with fifth-generation technology (5G) administered by Huawei, and Washington attempting to block the use of Huawei networking equipment on the islands due to the company's intelligence-gathering cooperation with the Chinese regime.