The US State Department is monitoring the situation following an attack on four Iowa university lecturers in a park in northeastern China’s Jilin province on Monday.
Cornell University President Jonathan Brand confirmed that the lecturers were stabbed in a park in Jilin province, home to Beihua University, which has a partnership with the private school, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
Iowa Public Radio reported Tuesday, citing a family member of the instructor, that none of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries and that four were recovering in local hospitals.
A State Department spokesman said Tuesday that the department is aware of reports of the incident, is monitoring the situation and has “no further comment at this time.”
The motive for the attack is unclear, but videos and photos circulating on social media showed four injured foreigners lying on the ground near police and passers-by.
In China, where social media platforms are heavily censored, almost all images and discussion of the incident have been removed.
The park where the stabbing allegedly occurred is about a kilometre (about half a mile) from the government building. Asked about the incident, an officer at the nearest police station said Tuesday that he had “no comment.”
Hu Xijin, an outspoken former editor-in-chief of the nationalist newspaper Global Times, said on social media platform X that he “condemned” the attack.
“Whatever the perpetrator’s motive, this is an isolated incident in the broader context of Chinese society,” he said, adding that “general sentiment” among Chinese people against foreign tourists in markets and tourist sites was a factor. [in China] “Friendly.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a post on X that she was in contact with Iowa’s federal delegation and the U.S. State Department “in response to this horrific attack.”
Also on the call, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Jane Miller-Meeks of Iowa said, “We are working through the appropriate channels and urging the U.S. Embassy to discuss appropriate matters to ensure that the victims first receive quality medical treatment for their injuries and then are able to leave China in any way that is medically possible.”
According to Cornell’s website, the university’s partnership with Beihua University began in 2018. Under the agreement, Beihua University provides funding for Cornell professors to spend two weeks in China teaching courses in computer science, mathematics, physics and other subjects.
The incident comes amid efforts between Beijing and Washington to ease tensions in technological and ideological competition through cultural exchanges.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said in November that he was willing to invite 50,000 young Americans to China over the next five years for exchanges and study abroad.
The exchanges come after Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed at a summit in California last year to promote expanded education, student, youth, cultural, sports and business exchanges.
