Four American educators stabbed in park in northeast China
The four American educators were from Cornell College in Iowa, United States. (Photo: Facebook/Cornell College)
BEIJING: Four American educators from a small Iowa university were injured in a stabbing attack in a public park in northeast China's Jilin province on Monday (Jun 10), according to Chinese and United States government officials.
China's foreign ministry on Tuesday said the incident was a random attack and that it would "not affect normal exchanges between the peoples of the US and China".
Iowa Representative Adam Zabner told Reuters his brother was one of the victims.
"My brother, David Zabner, was wounded in the arm during a stabbing attack while visiting a temple in Jilin City, China," he said.
The group had been visiting a temple in Beishan Park when they were attacked by a man with a knife, he added.
"The police have preliminarily judged that this was a random incident but an investigation is ongoing," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters at a daily briefing on Tuesday.
China's foreign ministry said it would continue taking effective measures to ensure the safety of outdoor activities.
A video of people lying on the ground in a park covered in blood was circulating on X on Monday, though no trace of the images could be found on Chinese social media.
Reuters was able to identify the location based on Chinese characters written on a wall, the wall's structure and the layout of the path, but it was not able to confirm when the video was shot.
A US State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement that they were aware of reports of a "stabbing incident" in Jilin, China, and were monitoring the situation.
The educators from Cornell College were on a teaching exchange programme with a partner university, Beihua, in Jilin City.
"We are working through proper channels and requesting to speak with the US Embassy on appropriate matters to ensure that the victims first receive quality care for their injuries and then get out of China in a medically feasible manner," Iowa's Congress representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks wrote on X.
China's President Xi Jinping this year pledged to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for study programmes to boost people-to-people ties, but a State Department Level 3 travel advisory to China warning of possible arbitrary detention and exit bans remains in place.
There are currently fewer than 900 American exchange students studying in China compared to over 290,000 Chinese students in the US, according to US data.
