Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir and Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir on Tuesday condemned a social media post by U.S. President Donald Trump showing Iceland and several neighboring countries covered by the U.S. flag, saying the post should be taken seriously.
Frostadottir told a government press conference Tuesday morning that the message conveyed by the image was "absurd" and described it as an insult to Icelanders, Canadians and Greenlanders.
"There is nothing funny or normal about making fun of the sovereignty of states," she said.
Gunnarsdottir said Iceland had sent a clear message to the United States that the post was "completely unacceptable."
She said Iceland is a sovereign and independent state responsible for its own destiny, adding that no other country could determine how Iceland handles its independence or sovereignty.
"If this is supposed to be a joke, then it is a bad joke," Gunnarsdottir said.
Gunnarsdottir summoned U.S. Ambassador to Iceland Billy Long for a meeting on Monday after Trump published the image on his social media platform Truth Social. She said Iceland's position had been explicitly conveyed to the ambassador. Long took up his post as U.S. ambassador to Iceland last month.
Trump posted a map on Monday showing the United States, Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Central America covered by the U.S. flag.
Iceland condemns Trump map showing country under US flag
Iceland condemns Trump map showing country under US flag
China on Saturday expressed serious concern and firm opposition to new U.S. outbound investment restrictions, saying that it will closely follow relevant developments and reserve the right to take all necessary measures.
The statement made by a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce came in response to a media query regarding the U.S. Treasury Department's updated proposed rules on outbound investment released on Friday.
In the statement released on the ministry's official website, the spokesperson said that the proposed rule expands the scope of investment restrictions targeting China in a discriminatory manner and intensifies these constraints, which is a classic example of generalizing the concept of national security and runs counter to the important consensus reached by the two heads of state.
It also interrupts normal economic and trade cooperation between Chinese and U.S. enterprises, and undermines the international economic and trade order, the spokesperson added.
Highlighting China's enormous market and immense consumer and investment potential, the spokesperson emphasized that investing in China means investing in the future.
U.S. restrictions on investments in China not only hinder bilateral economic and trade cooperation, but also harm the interests of American enterprises themselves, the spokesperson noted.
China urges the U.S. side to respect the laws of a market economy, stop overstretching the concept of national security, stop politicizing and weaponizing trade and economic issues, and create an enabling environment for China-U.S. business cooperation, said the spokesperson.
China firmly opposes US discriminatory investment restrictions: spokesperson
