Four American university professors 'stabbed' in park in northeast China

Four American university professors have reportedly been stabbed in a public park in China.

Cornell College President Jonathan Brand said the instructors were attacked while in the park with a faculty member from Beihua University, located in an outlying part of the industrial city of Jilin, in northeastern China.

There was no immediate comment from Chinese authorities.

The US State Department said in a statement that it was aware of reports of a stabbing and was monitoring the situation.

Details about the extent of the instructors' injuries and whether the attack was targeted or random were unclear. Cornell spokeswoman Jen Visser said in an email that the college was still gathering information about what happened.

News of the incident was suppressed in China, where the government maintains control of information on anything considered sensitive.

The news media didn't report it. Some social media accounts posted reports about the attack in foreign media, but a hashtag about it was blocked on a popular portal.

The attack came as Beijing and Washington seek to maintain trade to strengthen relations amid trade tensions and international issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea and the war in Ukraine.

The Cornell spokesperson said the private college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, is a partner with Beihua University. A university press release from 2018, when the program began, says Beihua is funding Cornell professors' travel to China to teach portions of the computer science, math and physics courses over a two-year period. weeks.

According to a 2020 article on Beihua's website, the Chinese university uses American teaching methods and resources to give engineering students an international perspective and English proficiency.

About a third of the core courses in this particular program use American textbooks and are taught by American professors, according to the post. Students can apply to study two out of four years at Cornell College and receive degrees from both institutions.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled a plan to invite 50,000 young Americans to China over the next five years, although Chinese diplomats say a travel advisory issued by the US State Department has discouraged Americans from go to China.

Citing arbitrary detentions as well as exit bans that could prevent Americans from leaving the country, the State Department issued a Level 3 travel advisory — the second highest warning level — for mainland China. He urges Americans to “reconsider traveling” to China.

Some U.S. universities have suspended their programs in China due to the travel advisory.