Nuuk, Greenland Photo: VCG

Greenland's government said on Monday that it will not accept a US takeover under "any circumstance," after the US President Donald Trump said that the US would take the territory "one way or the other." 

The island was "part of the kingdom of Denmark" and "as part of the Danish commonwealth, a member of NATO." It would increase its efforts to ensure its defense took place "in the NATO framework," the Greenland's government said in a statement, according to Guardian.

The statement added that the territory's ruling coalition "believes Greenland will forever be part of the western defense alliance," and that "all NATO member states, including the US, have a common interest" in the island's defense, per Guardian. 

The US president has made repeated claims about bringing the island under US control, arguing that the Danish autonomous territory is crucial for its own national security.

Greenland's Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and her Danish counterpart Lars Løkke Rasmussen are due to meet the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Wednesday.

"The Greenland government's statement reaffirms the position it held before meeting with US officials. It signals that the island intends to maintain the current status quo, while remaining open to negotiations on defense, and cooperation on Arctic shipping routes," Diao Daming, vice president of the Institute of National Development and Strategy at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times.

 Diao noted that both the US and Denmark are NATO members bound by collective defense obligations. This commitment is enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stipulates that an armed attack against one member shall be considered an attack against all members of the alliance.

This means the US was originally obligated to defend Greenland, which is under Danish jurisdiction, but now intends to attack it instead, Diao said. "Such an act would inevitably trigger major divisions within NATO."

In the hope to deflect US president away from his intensifying rhetoric towards the island territory, NATO allies are now scrambling to discuss beefing up Arctic security, ABC reported.

The European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius told media that the European Union can help provide security for Greenland, should Denmark request it, Reuters reported.

The EU official warned that a US military takeover of Greenland would be the end of NATO.

"I agree with the Danish prime minister that it will be the end of NATO, but also among people it will be also very, very negative," Kubilius told Reuters on Monday at a security conference in Sweden.

Frederiksen said in a January 5 interview with broadcaster TV2 that "I will also make it clear that if the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO, and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War," the Politico reported. 

 NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday that NATO was "working on the next steps to make sure that we collectively protect what is at stake," according to a report by Guardian.

Last week, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK issued a joint statement with Denmark to show their backing for Copenhagen and Greenland against Trump, according to ABC. 

Kubilius said he did not think a US military invasion was coming but that the European Union Treaty article 42.7 obliged member states to come to Denmark's assistance if it was faced with military aggression, Reuters said.

"It will depend on very much on Denmark, how they will react, what will be their position, but definitely there is such an obligation of member states to come for mutual assistance if another member state is facing military aggression," Kubilius was quoted as saying.

ABC News reported that if the US took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one. While Greenland is the world's largest island , it has a population of around 57,000 and does not have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the US.

"The US focus on Greenland is driven by geopolitical strategy and resource interests. Every move the US administration makes is driven by one core goal: to maximize its own interests while minimizing costs," Diao explained.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said on Monday that state-to-state relations should be handled in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Regarding the Arctic, countries' rights and freedoms to carry out activities  in accordance with the law should be fully respected.