Article
Countering Weaponized Interdependence: US Critical Mineral Strategy and Greenland’s Sovereign Agency
Lun Cao 1, Guojie Liang 2,* and Xiaojun Wang 1,*
1 School of International Studies, Dalian University, Dalian 116622, China
2 Indian Ocean Rim Research Center for Island Countries, Dalian University, Dalian 116622, China
* Correspondence: liangguojie@dlu.edu.cn (GL); wxj290@126.com (XW)
Abstract: As critical mineral supply chains become central vectors of “weaponized interdependence,” the United States (US) increasingly seeks to mitigate its structural vulnerabilities by securitizing the Arctic resource frontier. This article investigates Washington’s strategic pivot toward Greenland. Employing a novel multidimensional Strategic Weight Index calibrated with 2026 USGS data, we quantitatively map the topology of US mineral reliance across variables of supply concentration, non-substitutability, and strategic application. The empirical analysis demonstrates that China’s structural centrality confers latent “Panopticon” and “Chokepoint” capabilities, which can be operationalized as countermeasures against US defense and high-tech sectors. In response, Washington bypasses traditional multilateral mechanisms to unilaterally assetize Greenlandic rare earth and critical mineral deposits. However, this macrosecuritization collides with local ecopolitics in crucial ways. We reveal that Greenlandic civil society increasingly operationalizes environmental legislation as a mechanism of “reverse weaponization,” leveraging Western supply-chain anxieties to advance indigenous self-determination. Ultimately, the systemic de-risking strategies of great powers are fundamentally constrained by local demands for distributive justice, demonstrating that marginalized resource frontiers wield substantial agential power in the contemporary technological Cold War.
Keywords: weaponized interdependence; critical minerals; Greenland; resource geopolitics; reverse weaponization
https://doi.org/10.59711/jims.12.110039
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future Role of Greenland)
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