Belgium urges NATO mission in Arctic north

BRUSSELS:

NATO should launch an operation in the Arctic to address US security concerns, Belgium's defence minister said on Sunday, urging transatlantic unity amid growing European unease over President Donald Trump's push to take control of Greenland.

"We have to collaborate, work together and show strength and unity," Defence Minister Theo Francken told Reuters in a phone interview, adding that there was a clear need for "a NATO operation in the high north".

Trump said on Friday that the United States needed to own Greenland to prevent Russia or China from occupying it in the future, a remark that has unsettled European allies and prompted discussions within NATO.