Trump’s Greenland Initiative: A Response to the Rising Threat from China
It’s about China, folks.
President-elect Trump’s response to a contentious question is dominating the news – his unwillingness to dismiss the use of military force regarding the Panama Canal – yet many media outlets seem to overlook the deeper implications of his message.
Trump and his forthcoming national security team are essentially sending a warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
They aim to convey to Xi and the global community that they are aware of China’s economic and military ambitions in the Western hemisphere.
Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even the Drake Passage are all linked, with China being the common thread.
This isn’t about past U.S. military invasions. It is a modern proclamation to Xi: “keep your hands off!” It reflects the Monroe Doctrine for the 21st century, emerging at a time when China’s assertiveness is growing globally.
Beijing is aiming to economically and militarily choke U.S. maritime and naval routes by taking control of critical chokepoints and transit pathways.
Trump’s second term was always destined to focus more on China. Xi’s rapidly growing People’s Liberation Army will significantly influence his administration’s rewrite of the National Security Strategy as per the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.
True to form, Trump frames his case against Beijing largely in economic terms. Still, the underlying motivation stems from China’s dual approach to establishing a formidable global military presence.
The key term here is “dual.” China’s escalating $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative has an economic foundation, but it also acts as a modern Trojan Horse, creating the infrastructure for an increasingly powerful global Chinese military.
Evidence of this strategy is evident. China’s investments in Africa led to the establishment in 2018 of its first overseas military base near Djibouti, just a short distance from Camp Lemonnier – the U.S. base in the Horn of Africa.
This initial focus was about securing access to raw materials and essential sea routes back to China by acquiring deep-water ports, constructing artificial islands, and deploying military resources to protect them.
Now, it’s about Xi posing threats to crucial Western trade pathways in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
Trump’s alerts regarding the Panama Canal, whether clever or not, are timely. China aims to economically control the canal. The Landbridge Group, a Chinese enterprise, alongside “Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, now run ports at both extremities of the canal.”
Greenland may seem like a distant issue for many Americans; however, this Danish territory will increasingly become crucial for U.S. national security in the years to come.
Climate change is paving the way for the 3,500-mile Northern Sea Route, linking the Bering Sea (between Alaska and Siberia) to the Barents and Kara Seas north of Russia’s Murmansk.
Apart from NORAD, the U.S. is currently poorly equipped to defend itself against any militarization of the Arctic by either Russia or China. For instance, the U.S. Navy possesses only two icebreakers to monitor the competing Northwest Passage in Canada.
At present, the major threat is primarily from Russia. However, in 2018, China declared itself a “Near Arctic State” and launched the “Polar Silk Road” – an Arctic version of the Belt and Road Initiative in conjunction with Moscow.
What Trump hasn’t yet addressed is China’s other goal positioned at the southern tip of South America in Chile. Retired U.S. Army Gen. Laura Richardson, the former commander of SOUTHCOM, cautionary told Congress in March 2023 that Beijing is trying to “obtain rights to construct dual-use maritime facilities near Ushuaia.”
If successful, China might gain military dominance over the Strait of Magellan, Drake Passage, and Antarctica in the near future. This could empower Beijing to strategically obstruct U.S. naval and maritime movements between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
We only need to glance at the scenarios involving Taipei and Manila to understand Xi’s readiness to leverage such provocations. The PLA often encircles Taiwan both by sea and air to simulate cutting off its trade routes, while the PLA Navy routinely intimidates Filipino vessels.
China is asserting itself on our own ground. Are we as a nation prepared to confront this challenge?
