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Four US educators visiting north-eastern China on a teaching exchange were stabbed in a violent attack on Monday, according to Chinese and US officials.
The educators were in the north-eastern city of Jilin as part of a partnership programme between Beihua University in Jilin and Cornell College, a small liberal arts college in Iowa.
The attack took place in a public park near Beihua’s campus. Video footage of the incident uploaded to social media showed three people lying on the ground and bleeding profusely. All three victims appear to be trying to call for help as a crowd of Chinese gathered around them.
The violence against the educators came amid rocky ties between Beijing and Washington, which Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought to improve with more people-to-people exchanges.
Footage and discussion of the attack were censored in China, as has become customary for sensitive topics or acts of large-scale violence. Nationalist commentator Hu Xijin wrote on Weibo that he hoped the victims “would get prompt medical attention and be well”. The post later disappeared.
China’s foreign ministry told reporters on Tuesday that police believed the attack was an isolated incident, and that an investigation was under way.
“China is universally recognised as one of the safest countries in the world,” said spokesperson Lin Jian, adding that the incident would not “affect the normal conduct of cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States”.
“The Chinese side has always taken effective measures and will continue to do so to genuinely protect the safety of all foreigners in China,” Lin added.
A US state department spokesperson said they were “aware of reports of a stabbing incident in Jilin” and were “monitoring the situation”.
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds said she was in touch with the US state department “in response to this horrifying attack”.
“Please pray for their full recovery, safe return, and their families here at home,” she wrote on social media platform X.
Iowa state representative Adam Zabner said his brother David Zabner, a PhD student at Tufts University, was one of the victims and was stabbed in the arm during the attack.
“I spoke to David a few minutes ago, he is recovering from his injuries and doing well,” Zabner wrote on social media. “My family is incredibly grateful that David survived this attack.”
On the Chinese social media site Zhihu, one post about the attack was still visible as of Tuesday afternoon. Some users questioned whether Chinese state media’s repeated stoking of anti-foreign and anti-US sentiment could have led to the attack.
“Every day they are criticised in the media, and now action has been taken,” wrote one user in Guangdong province.
Additional reporting by Nian Liu in Beijing
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