Attack on US teachers ‘an isolated incident’; investigation ongoing: FM

Police statement Photo: screenshot

The isolated incident will not affect normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday in response to media reports that four American teachers were attacked in a park in the city of Jilin on Monday.

Local police in Jilin City, northeastern China’s Jilin Province, have detained a suspect in the stabbing death of four American teachers in a park in the city.

According to a police statement, the 55-year-old suspect and one of the victims allegedly bumped into each other while walking in the city’s Beishan Park. The suspect then attacked the foreigner and three other foreigners accompanying him with a knife, as well as a Chinese tourist who tried to detain him.

Local police said on Tuesday that the condition of the four foreigners and the Chinese victim was not life-threatening.

On Monday at 11:49, the police received a report about an incident that took place in the park. Police officers quickly arrived at the scene, immediately sent the injured victims to the hospital for treatment, and quickly moved to arrest the suspect.

Police said a suspect surnamed Cui was arrested the same day.

The four foreigners come from Cornell College in Iowa, USA, and were invited to teach at Beihua University, with which Cornell College has a cooperation program. Currently, all the injured have received appropriate medical assistance and their lives are not in danger. According to the police, further investigation and work in this case is ongoing.

In response to the incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday that all the injured had been taken to hospital and received appropriate medical attention, adding that none of them were in critical condition.

Initial police findings indicate that this is an isolated case. Further investigation is still ongoing, the spokesman added.

China is widely considered one of the safest countries in the world, Lin said, emphasizing that effective measures are in place to protect the safety of all foreigners in China. “This isolated incident will not affect normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States,” he said.

More people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges between China and the United States serve the interests of both sides and are supported and welcomed by people from different walks of life in both countries, a spokesman said at a news conference.

Global times