Four US College Instructors Stabbed in China

Improve the News Foundation -
0:00
/1861

Facts

  • Four American college instructors Monday were injured in a stabbing at Beishan Park in China, according to their school and officials from both countries. All victims survived and are reportedly in stable condition.1
  • The victims, instructors from Cornell College, a small liberal arts school in Iowa, were teaching in a partnership program with Beihua University in Jilin City, China.2
  • The American teachers were accompanied by a Beihua faculty member and were not with any American students. One of the victims was identified as David Zabner, a doctoral student at Tufts.3
  • Chinese police Tuesday announced that they arrested a suspect — a 55-year-old man identified by his surname, Cui. Videos after the incident circulated on social media, showing two men and a woman on the ground covered in blood stains.4
  • Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he was 'angered and deeply troubled' by the stabbing. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry waited hours before confirming the incident.5
  • Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that police consider the attack to be 'an isolated incident,' adding that the attack 'will not damage relations' with other nations.6

Sources: 1Reuters, 2The Des Moines Register, 3CBS, 4CNN, 5NBC and 6BBC News.

Narratives

  • Anti-China narrative, as provided by Newsweek. This gruesome attack is deeply troubling and it forces US officials to reflect on the safety of Americans in China. The victims were fortunate to survive, as video footage of the scene suggests the outcome could have been deadly. The US must continue to monitor the outlook for Americans abroad in the PRC.
  • Pro-China narrative, as provided by South China Morning Post. US officials are understandably troubled by this, but all evidence suggests that the stabbing was an isolated incident. This event shouldn't impact bilateral relations between the US and China, and China will continue to be one of the safest countries in the world.

Predictions