The Arctic Chessboard: Why Greenland and Canada Are Critical to US Security Against the CCP | Alex Gray
American Thought Leaders
The Epoch Times
4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“People have misunderstood that [Greenland] is somehow a President Donald Trump issue, and it’s not,” says Alex Gray, who previously served as National Security Council chief of staff and deputy assistant to the president.
So why does Greenland matter? And why has it become such a massive issue?
In fact, Gray explained to me, multiple American presidents have tried to purchase or acquire Greenland over the last 160 years. Andrew Johnson was the first in 1867. Woodrow Wilson tried during the First World War. And Harry Truman tried right after World War II, Gray says.
In my deep-dive interview with Gray, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and co-founder of American Global Strategies, he lays out Greenland’s geostrategic importance to America’s national security and what it would mean if Greenland became dependent on China.
In 1952, the United States signed a treaty with Denmark, still in effect today, that provides America with extensive military access to Greenland. Gray’s overarching concern is what will happen when Greenland is likely to become independent in five or 10 years.
For many years, China has shown great interest in establishing dominance over the Arctic region and is regularly moving its submarines up to the North Pole.
Gray is convinced that after independence, Greenland is likely to fall prey to the Chinese Communist Party’s “well-worn playbook” to gain influence and eventually control the island. He calls it the “Solomon Islands scenario.”
“They start offering Belt and Road projects. They start buying dual-use facilities. They buy ports. They’re taking over airfields. Next thing you know, we’re hearing conversations about potentially having [China’s People’s Liberation Army] naval access to ports in the Solomons. … This is a well-worn Chinese playbook,” Gray says.
Beyond Greenland, we also dive into security threats related to America’s northern neighbor and the implications of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s overtures in Beijing.
Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What people have misunderstood is that this is somehow a President Donald Trump issue, and it's not. |
| 0:05.0 | Presidents from 1867, the Andrew Johnson administration, was the first administration to try and acquire Greenland. |
| 0:13.0 | It's the strategic sea lanes, the Greenland, Iceland, UK gap. |
| 0:18.0 | The Chinese are moving submarines regularly up to the North Pole. And as the Arctic ice |
| 0:23.8 | melts, that passage between Greenland and the Arctic in northern Canada is going to be an |
| 0:29.6 | incredibly important strategic location. In this episode, I sit down with Alex Gray, who previously |
| 0:35.6 | served as National Security Council Chief of Staff |
| 0:39.0 | and deputy assistant to the President during the first Trump administration. |
| 0:42.9 | What happens when Greenland inevitably becomes independent? |
| 0:46.4 | And that's where we get to what I call the Solomon Islands scenario. |
| 0:49.5 | Now he's a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and co-founder of American Global Strategies. |
| 0:54.9 | We will wake up and we will have, just like in the Solomons, we will have people's armed police |
| 1:00.0 | or Chinese militia running rampant in Greenland and that is a lot bigger threat to us than anything |
| 1:06.3 | that's happening in the Pacific Islands. |
| 1:08.2 | This is American Thought Leaders and I'm Yanya Kellick. |
| 1:18.9 | Alex Gray, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders. |
| 1:19.8 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:25.5 | We're going to talk about all things Greenland and the U.S. relationship and the Danish relationship and what should happen from a national |
| 1:29.2 | security perspective. Before we go there, I want to talk about something that Undersecretary |
| 1:34.3 | of State Sarah Rogers said in the recent post. She said, partisan hack spent years peddling |
| 1:41.0 | phonyly Russia collusion hoax while turning a blind eye to the sprawling |
| 1:44.7 | web of far-left activist organizations who push the agendas of the Chinese Communist Party. |
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