Rubio push on Greenland delivers a huge diplomatic win for US against China

China seeks to replace the United States as the leading global superpower and key to its strategy is securing critical sea lanes.

The country that can control the fate of sea lanes will have leverage over markets and the kind of system on which global trade will rely, access to limited natural resources and a significant ability to project power far from its shores.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been planning and executing on a diplomatic sweep from Panama to Greenland, and now Iceland, to box out China, protect its access and interests and establish an American advantage over the long term.

About 40 years ago, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, Iceland, and initiated the start of the thaw of Cold War tensions.

Rubio returned to the site of the meeting where Reagan refused to surrender his vision of a space-based missile shield to the Soviets and reminded the world that the High North still matters for American power and interests.

Standing side by side with Iceland’s foreign minister, Rubio noted that the location remains a "critical outpost for monitoring clandestine behavior and deterring our adversaries." When a reporter asked him if the United States may expand its military footprint there, he didn’t commit to plans but emphasized that doing so would require Icelandic consent.

The negotiations will continue, and, though he didn’t mention Russia or China by name, those are the nations now posing acute threats to the United States and its allies.

TRUMP'S GREENLAND OBSESSION ISN’T RANDOM.

HERE’S WHAT’S AT STAKE The Reykjavik visit follows the recently secured landmark deal with the Kingdom of Denmark.

This deal ensures that the United States can prevent the Chinese from establishing its habitual scheme in the Arctic.

Critics of the deal have said that the negotiations between Washington and Copenhagen were "much ado about nothing," considering that China isn’t (yet) in Greenland.

This misses the point.

As the ice melts, Arctic shipping routes are becoming increasingly navigable, creating new sea lanes (and thus chokepoints) that will shape global shipping and military posturing for decades to come.

The agreement gives Washington the authority to block non- NATO commercial and military presence in Greenland, a direct role in screening and accelerating foreign investment in critical sectors, overflight, missile defense access and unrestricted undersea access across Greenland’s territorial waters.