Imagining China on Greenland's road to independence

For decades, Greenlandic politicians have sought recognition for their country as an independent agent in international politics. Renewed global interest in the Arctic has given new impetus to a strategy of diversifying the existing dependency relations, as a way to postcoloniality. This chapter investigates how Greenlandic foreign policy narratives have cast China in different roles which support this strategy. Some narratives are informed by Orientalist tropes imported from Denmark, while others dismiss the very same tropes and instead embrace China as a crucial bilateral partner in Greenland’s road to independence. Mainly, China has been imagined as a potent source of, mainly, material resources and wealth (export revenues, investments, labour). Initially, this narrative was employed to support a business attempt to reinvigorate traditional hunting through new export channels. Later, narratives underscored Greenlandic ambitions as a mining country. Recently, they have backed a Greenlandic search for new solutions to the less-hyped fishing and tourism industries. But besides the promise of material revenue, Greenlandic authorities have also imagined that China could supply immaterial resources like international recognition. However, the sought for recognition has changed drastically, from the time when Greenland’s national team played soccer against Tibet to current attempts to negotiate science- and paradiplomacy with Beijing and Copenhagen. The analysis is based on select media reports, government foreign policy reports and parliamentary debates from 1999 to 2018. Theoretically, the analysis draws on a tradition of analyzing international politics and foreign policy as driven by narratives constructing nation state identities in relation to Others.