Sweden is highly critical of the "threatening rhetoric" against Greenland and Denmark from US President Donald Trump's administration, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says.
Kristersson said in a speech on Sunday that the rules-based world order was under greater threat than for many decades.
"We are highly critical of what the United States is now doing and has done in Venezuela in regards to international law and probably even more critical of the rhetoric that is being expressed against Greenland and Denmark," he said at an annual security conference in northern Sweden.
"On the contrary, the United States should thank Denmark, which has been a very loyal ally over the years."
Greenland, home to fewer than 57,000 people and about four-fifths covered by ice, is largely autonomous but formally part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a member of the NATO military alliance.
Trump said on Friday that the US needs to own Greenland to prevent Russia or China from occupying it in the future.
He has repeatedly said that Russian and Chinese vessels are operating near Greenland, something Nordic countries have rejected.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed on Sunday that her Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, will meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for talks on Greenland next week.
"We are at a crossroads," Frederiksen said during a party conference, according to the Ritzau news agency.
Frederiksen has warned that if the United States turns its back on NATO co-operation by threatening an ally, then "everything stops".
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said his nation wants to make a greater contribution to military security in the Arctic.
The answer must be found within the NATO framework, said the conservative politician, who stopped in Iceland en route to Washington, where he is also due to meet Rubio for talks about Greenland.
"The North Atlantic is geostrategically enormously important for our alliance, for NATO and Iceland is at its centre," Wadephul said.
He stressed the need for closer co-operation, noting that the German armed forces are already contributing to maritime surveillance in the region. Germany would examine further possibilities if new challenges arise, he added.
Belgium's defence minister said NATO should launch an operation in the Arctic to address US security concerns.
"We have to collaborate, work together and show strength and unity," Theo Francken said in a phone interview, adding that there is a need for "a NATO operation in the high north".
Francken suggested NATO's Baltic Sentry and Eastern Sentry operations, which combine forces from different countries with drones, sensors and other technology to monitor land and sea, as possible models for an "Arctic Sentry".
He acknowledged Greenland's strategic importance but said "I think that we need to sort this out like friends and allies, like we always do".
A NATO spokesperson said on Friday that alliance chief Mark Rutte spoke with Rubio about the importance of the Arctic for shared security and how NATO is working to enhance its capabilities in the high north.
Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that a group of European countries, led by the United Kingdom and Germany, is discussing plans to boost their military presence in Greenland to show Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security.
Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to protect the Arctic region, the Bloomberg report added, citing people familiar with the plans.
with DPA
