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A crowd gathers around American college instructors who were stabbed at a park in Jilin City, China, on June 10, 2024. (Reuters/Yonhap) 

By Choi Hyun-june, Beijing correspondent

“Such isolated incidents may happen in any country in the world,” said Mao Ning, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Mao was commenting on the stabbing of a Japanese mother and child that occurred in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, on June 24.

The spokesperson was correct when she said that attacks on foreigners can happen anywhere in the world — in the US, France or even South Korea for that matter.

But there are some things that only happen in China, such as the near-total media blackout on the incident.

Three weeks after the stabbing, the Chinese authorities haven’t released any information about who the suspect was, why he committed the crime or what his story may have been. The Chinese news media haven’t covered the incident either.

That’s similar to what happened after the stabbing of four American teachers that occurred in China’s Jilin Province early last month.

Immediately after the incident, the Chinese authorities said the stabbing had happened after the assailant collided with the Americans, but hardly any other details have emerged.

US Ambassador Nicholas Burns, the American envoy to China, said in a recent interview with a US media outlet that the US was dissatisfied with the lack of information provided about the motive behind the crime.

It’s not easy to fathom why the Chinese authorities have been so reluctant to provide additional information about these two stabbings of foreign nationals that have occurred in such a short period. One can only surmise that it reflects the Chinese “cultural tendency” of quietly dealing with negative incidents that could stir up unrest and tarnish the national image instead of approaching them more transparently.

Oddly enough, these two incidents occurred while China was emphasizing patriotism and national security. This year, China has been implementing the new Patriotic Education Law, which seeks to make education more patriotic not only in the party, government and public institutions but also at schools, companies, religious organizations and even in the home.

The US and Japan are countries that have defined China as a “strategic challenger” and strongly pressured it on economic, diplomatic and military levels. They could easily become the specific targets of Chinese-style patriotism.

Last July, China passed new counterespionage legislation, which reflects the growing emphasis placed on national security in Chinese society. The Chinese security apparatus has been seeking to keep citizens alert about foreigners by periodically publicizing the apprehension of foreign spies on social media.

As of this month, Chinese law enforcement has been empowered to more easily pat down individuals deemed a threat to national security and search their portable electronic devices — powers that apply to both Chinese and foreign nationals. While the new powers are only supposed to apply in “emergency situations,” no specific standards are provided, leaving the possibility that the powers could be applied arbitrarily.

The ironic thing is that China has been enthusiastically seeking to attract foreign tourists and foreign investment since last year. China has relaxed visa requirements to make it easier for foreigners to enter China and approved visa-free travel for visitors from several countries, including France, Germany and Australia.

China has also adopted a more welcoming stance for foreign investors, guaranteeing that foreign companies can participate in government procurement bids on an equal footing with Chinese companies and strengthening protections for intellectual property rights.

While Chinese media outlets proudly report that more foreigners are visiting the country as a result of these initiatives, foreign direct investment in China fell nearly 30% as of this past June.

Could any country that places such stress on national security and patriotism be attractive to foreigners? Those two goals may be mutually exclusive, no matter how much China plays up its favored virtues of harmony and moderation.

We’ll have to see what answers the Chinese Communist Party may have found in its third plenum, which ran for four days, through Thursday.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]