Vice President JD Vance spent three hours in Greenland on Friday touring a U.S. military base, on a contentious trip pushed by the Trump administration and angrily opposed by Greenlanders.

In remarks with reporters, Vance said the United States had to “wake up” to China and Russia’s designs on the island.

“We can’t just bury our head in the sand,” he said, “or, in Greenland, bury our head in the snow.”

President Donald Trump has been insisting that the United States take over the icebound island, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark and has been connected to Denmark for more than 300 years. Trump has been fixated on Greenland since his first term in office and recently vowed to “get it — one way or the other.”

Vance took a softer tone, saying that the United States would respect Greenland’s right to self-determination and that using military force, which Trump refused to rule out, would not be necessary.

But Greenlanders have resisted the overtures. The government of Greenland did not invite Vance or the others in his group, which included his wife, Usha, as well as the national security adviser and the energy secretary. Protests had been planned in Nuuk, the capital, where Usha Vance was originally scheduled to visit, and that part of the trip was scrapped a few days ago.

Instead, the entire visit was reduced to the Pituffik Space Base, a missile defense station far from any town — or any chance of an embarrassing TV moment.

The White House’s original plan was for Usha Vance to attend a famous dog sled race this weekend and see other cultural sites, in an effort to bring the United States and Greenland closer.

The plan backfired. Protesters were gearing up to line the road from the airport into town. Greenland’s government blasted the visit as “highly aggressive.” Even the organizers of the dog sled race said they never asked Usha Vance to attend in the first place.

As the Vances sat down for lunch at the base, JD Vance made a colorful remark about how cold it was and said, “Nobody told me,” prompting laughs.