Four American college instructors from a small Iowa college were stabbed in broad daylight during a teaching trip to China, highlighting the increasing dangers abroad amid rising Sino-US tensions. Beijing says the incident was “isolated,” and foreigners are safe there.

The four educators are from Cornell College, a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa. The school’s president, Jonathan Brand, told CNN the educators were involved in a “serious incident” during a daytime visit to a public park. 

“We have been in contact with all four instructors and are assisting them during this time,” Brand said. 

The injured educators were walking with faculty members from the school’s Chinese partner school, Beihua University, when the incident occurred in the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin. 

Graphic footage circulating on X shows the educators covered in blood on the ground, accompanied by a police officer. 

Four American educators are wounded after a stabbing in Beishan Park in China’s Jilin City.

The incident comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping pushes for more student exchanges to bolster US-China relations.

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China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, said the incident was “isolated” and that Beijing would protect the safety of foreigners in the country. 

“The police preliminarily judged that the case was isolated. Further investigation is underway,” Jian said, adding the incident would not “affect the normal development of China-US people-to-people exchanges.”

The rare attack on foreigners in the powerful security state comes as Sino-US relations sour amid a military arms race, trade war, and expanding tech war. 

The Biden administration has yet to release an official statement about the incident.

*This story is developing…