Chinese police have arrested a 55-year-old man after four American university teachers were stabbed by an assailant in an attack targeting foreigners in a park.
Iowa Cornell University instructors were hospitalized after a serious incident occurred during a weekly visit to a park in the northern province of Jilin, a university statement said.
Iowa State Rep. Adam Zabner said his brother David, one of four instructors injured in the incident, was stabbed.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Police said the assailant, surnamed Cui, stabbed one of the Americans after he clashed with him. He injured three other American visitors and a Chinese tourist who tried to rescue them.
Mr Zabner said the instructors were attacked by a man with a knife while visiting a local mosque on Monday.
He said his brother was recovering in hospital after being stabbed in the arm in Jilin city's Beishan Park.
“He hasn’t been released yet this morning, but he’s OK,” he told CBS News.
Cornell University said four instructors had been teaching “as part of a partnership with a Chinese university.” The group was accompanied by members of Beihua University when they visited the park on Monday.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the injured were immediately taken to a hospital for treatment.
Spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters that police believed the attack was accidental but that the investigation was ongoing.
“This is an isolated incident and investigations are continuing,” he said. “China is widely known as one of the safest countries in the world, and China will continue to take relevant measures to ensure that foreigners are safe in China.”
“We believe this will not damage our relationships with other countries,” he added.
A US State Department spokesperson previously told the BBC they were aware of reports of a stabbing incident in Jilin province but could not provide further information.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she had contacted the department about the “horrific” attack.
“Please pray for their full recovery and safe return, and for their families here at home,” she wrote.
Photos of the incident circulating online appear to show at least three people lying on the ground bleeding.
However, the photo appears to have been quickly censored on the Chinese internet.
On Tuesday, despite Weibo search term trends, search terms such as 'foreigner Jilin' were not found.
Instead, netizens discussed adjacent topics, with some even requesting additional information about the incident.
Hu Xijin, an online critic and former editor-in-chief of China's Global Times, previously posted on Weibo that the number of foreign visitors to China was increasing and that Chinese people were “typically friendly” towards them. He described this incident as a 'accident'.
The post has since been deleted.
There has been little reporting on this incident, even in Chinese state media.
Mr. Jabner said his brother, a doctoral student at Tufts University, had previously visited China and was on his second trip to China with Cornell University.
Amid tense diplomatic relations, China and the United States have recently made efforts to resume people-to-people exchanges.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced plans to invite 50,000 young Americans to China within the next five years, and Chinese diplomats say the U.S. State Department's travel advisory has deterred Americans from going to China.
