Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland. Photo JD Vance/Twitter

The Vances were greeted by Col. Susan Meyers and Chief Master Sgt. Holly Vaught.

Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which acquired the land from Norway in 1814. Greenland’s 840,000 square miles is more than 80% covered by the ice cap or smaller glaciers.

“Yes, the people of Greenland are going to have self-determination,” Vance said. “We hope that they choose to partner with the United States because we’re the only nation on Earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security because their security is very much our security.”

Vance said Denmark “hasn’t done a good job at keeping Greenland safe” and backs President Donald Trump‘s desire to annex the nation of around 57,000 people.

“We want to have good relationships with everybody … but part of having good relations is showing your strength when you have to,” Vance said. ” And unfortunately, the story of Greenland over the past 20 years when it comes to security is that we’ve underinvested. That has to change.

Vance said specifically the air base is “less secure than 30 to 40 years ago because some of our allies haven’t kept up.”

Pituffik, which is the Defense Department’s northernmost installation, is operated by the 821st Space Base Group and part of Space Base Delta.

“We do not think that military force is ever going to be necessary,” Vance told reporters. “We think this makes sense and because we think the people of Greenland are rational and good, we think we’re going to be able to cut a deal Donald Trump-style to ensure the security of this territory, but also the United States of America.”

Greenland is equally about 3,100 miles from the United States and Russia.

“Why does Greenland matter so much?” Vance asked rhetorically. “We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways, Arctic naval routes, and in the minerals of the Arctic territories. We need to ensure America is leading in the Arctic.”

Trump on Friday again pushed to control Greenland.

“We need Greenland,” Trump said at the White House. “Very importantly, for international security, we have to have Greenland. It’s not a question of, you think we can do without it. We can’t.”

Trump said control is a matter of peace “for the entire world,” not just the United States.

“Look at it, you have warships all over the place going through right along Greenland. We’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said.

Denmark, like the United States, is part of NATO.

Scheduled for one day, the visit originally was to include an appearance at a dogsled race by the second lady, but that portion of the itinerary was canceled.

There has been some pushback from Greenlanders in regard to the United States after Trump said on numerous occasions that he would like the United States to take control of Greenland.

Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede said on Facebook Sunday that “the upcoming and subsequent private visit of the wife of the United States Vice President and the United States President’s highest security [adviser] cannot be seen only as a private visit,” and that “We can already see now how big a mess it’s caused.”

The Tupilak Travel company, based in Greenland capital city of Nuuk, had at first offered to receive Usha Vance, but has since withdrawn that offer.

“When the U.S. Consulate called [Monday] and asked if the U.S. Vice President’s wife Usha Vance could visit our store on Friday, we replied that [we] would be happy to,” the company said in a social media post Tuesday.

“After closer consideration, however, we have now informed the consulate that we do not want her visit.”