Beijing: Attack on four Americans is ‘isolated case’

The Chinese government says the recent stabbing of four Americans by a man in northeast China’s Jilin province is an isolated case and hopes the attack will not affect normal people-to-people exchanges between China and the US.

A 55-year-old Chinese man called Cui Dapeng was arrested by police after four American teachers were stabbed and injured when visiting a temple in Beishan Park in Jilin city at 11:49 am on Monday, according to local police.

Citing a preliminary investigation, police said the incident began as the suspect and one of the foreigners collided with each other, and then the suspect attacked the four foreigners, who had traveled from Iowa’s Cornell College to teach students at Beihua University.

During the incident, a Chinese tourist who tried to stop the attack was also injured.

“All the injured were rushed to hospital and received proper medical treatment. None of them is in critical condition,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson of the foreign ministry, said Tuesday. “Preliminary police assessment shows it is an isolated incident. Further investigation is still under way.”

“China is widely considered one of the safest countries in the world,” he added. “We have taken and will continue to take effective measures to keep all foreign nationals safe in China.”

An X account called “Teacher Li is not your teacher” on Monday uploaded video footage that showed several injured people were lying on the floor while waiting for medical treatment.

Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, says in a Weibo post on Monday that the foreigners simply happened to become targets of a random attack.

“In a recent period of time, the number of foreigners in China has significantly increased,” Hu said. “The foreign