(Beijing) Four professors from an American university who work in China were injured during a stabbing attack, according to American authorities, with Beijing citing on Tuesday an “isolated case” according to initial findings.
Attacks on foreign nationals, particularly Westerners, are extremely rare in China, where the streets are generally very safe at all times. The number of physical attacks there is infinitely lower than in the United States or Western Europe.
Cornell College, in the state of Iowa, indicated Monday that these four Americans worked as professors for the higher education establishment and were participating in an academic exchange in China.
They were injured during a “serious incident”, underlined the establishment.
A spokesperson for the US State Department said it was “aware of reports of a stabbing in Jilin”, a northeastern Chinese city in the province of the same name.
“According to our information, on the morning of June 10, four foreign teachers from Beihua University in Jilin City were attacked while they were walking in Beishan Park in Jilin,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The police have made a preliminary assessment that this is an isolated case. An investigation is underway,” he stressed.
Unverified videos posted on foreign social media since Monday show several people on the ground receiving treatment, with bloodstains on their clothes and on the ground.
“All the injured were sent to hospital as soon as possible and received proper treatment. Their lives are not in danger,” Lin Jian said.
“China is generally recognized as one of the safest countries in the world. It has always taken effective measures and will continue to take relevant measures to effectively protect the safety of all foreigners in China. »
The spokesperson said he was convinced that this incident will have no repercussions on academic exchanges between the two countries.
An Iowa state representative in the United States House of Representatives, Ashley Hinson, told X that she was “horrified” that these four Americans had been “brutally stabbed.”