NUUK, Greenland (AP) 鈥 Greenland鈥檚 parliament passed a bill Tuesday that bans political parties from receiving contributions 鈥渇rom foreign or anonymous contributors鈥 after President Donald Trump expressed his wish that the United States take over the vast and mineral-rich Arctic island that belongs to Denmark.
The bill is aimed at protecting 鈥淕reenland鈥檚 political integrity" and will take effect immediately, according to a translation of a parliamentary document in Danish outlining the measure.
The bill 鈥渕ust be seen in light of the geopolitical interests in Greenland and the current situation where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in taking over and controlling Greenland,鈥 the document said.
Before taking office for his second term on Jan. 20, Trump said he would not rule out the use of military force calling it vital to U.S. national security. His oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland last month : 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to treat you well.鈥
Denmark is a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO, and its semiautonomous territory is home to a large U.S. military base.
With a total area of 2.17 million square kilometers (836,000 square miles), Greenland 鈥 population about 57,000 鈥 is over one-fifth the size of the United States, according to the CIA World Factbook.
A senior legal officer at Greenland's parliament, Kent Fridberg, told The Associated Press he did not know whether any foreign donors had contributed to Greenland's political parties and the idea for the bill was 鈥渂asically a preventative measure.鈥
Fridberg noted that some Russian politicians had voiced a similar interest 鈥 and that political parties in Greenland are generally funded by public means.
The new measure also prohibits any single party from receiving domestic private contributions that exceed 200,000 Danish kroner (about $27,700) in total, or 20,000 kroner (about $2,770) from a single contributor.
