BEIJING: A suspect has been arrested over the stabbing of four American college teachers in northeastern China, police said on Tuesday (Jun 11), with Beijing describing the attack as an “isolated” incident.
The four were on an academic exchange and worked as instructors at Iowa’s Cornell College, which said they were wounded in a “serious incident”.
The attack took place on Monday in a public park in Jilin province, where police confirmed they had arrested a 55-year-old man.
“The suspect, named Mr Cui, was arrested the same day (as the attack),” the local police said.
Beijing confirmed earlier on Tuesday that “four foreign teachers” had been attacked.
“All the wounded were taken to hospital … and received proper treatment. None of them are in danger of losing their life,” spokesman Lin Jian told reporters at the foreign ministry’s regular afternoon press conference.
“The police preliminarily judged that the case was isolated. Further investigation is underway.”
“China is generally recognised as one of the safest countries in the world,” Lin added.
“China … will continue to take relevant measures to effectively protect the safety of all foreigners in China,” he said.
“This isolated case will not affect the normal development of China-US people-to-people exchanges.”