By Tim Barsoe
NUUK, May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. opening of a larger diplomatic hub in Greenland on Thursday was met by demonstrators opposed to President Donald Trump's ambition for greater influence in the Arctic island, while local government ministers shied away from the event.
Moving from a wooden cabin on the outskirts of Nuuk to a much larger downtown office, the new United States consulate has become a focal point for Greenlanders unhappy with Trump's stated desire to control the island, a semi-autonomous
part of Denmark.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and a series of other politicians said that they had declined invitations to attend the opening of the new diplomatic mission.
"We haven't made a decision in principle, but I won't participate," Nielsen told local daily Sermitsiaq.
Several hundred people demonstrated outside the consulate, carrying the island's red and white flag and posters that said "USA, stop it", while chanting "No means no" and "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders".
The new venue has greater capacity and offers an outstanding space for U.S. diplomatic engagement in Greenland, a State Department spokesperson said.
The White House in January said Trump was considering how to acquire Greenland, including a potential use of the U.S. military, setting off alarm bells among NATO allies in Europe, although talks have since been moved to a diplomatic track.
Greenland's government said on Monday that progress had been made in the high-stakes talks over the future of the territory amid U.S. threats of annexation, adding that the giant island belongs to its people and will never be for sale.
"We will always be neighbours and stand by you, whatever future you decide for yourselves, as your allies and partners," U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery said in a speech at the opening, according to Greenlandic public broadcaster KNR.
Trump has described Greenland, an island of 57,000 people, as strategically vital for countering Russia and China in the Arctic. The U.S. currently has one active military base there, down from around 17 facilities in 1945.
(Reporting by Tim Barsoe in Nuuk and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; writing by Soren Jeppesen; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Aurora Ellis)
