Tourists sightsee along the historic Pingjiang Road in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, on May 6, 2024. Various tourist attractions in Suzhou are ushering in a large number of tourists who are traveling off-peak after the five-day May Day holidays, which lasted from May 1 to 5. Photo: VCG

Two Japanese citizens who are hurt in attack in China's Suzhou are not in critical conditions, the injured Chinese citizen is still being treated, said spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noting the attack is likely to be an isolated event, and China will continue protect the safety of foreigners in this country.

On Monday afternoon, a knife-wielding attack at a bus station in Suzhou resulted in three injuries, one Chinese and two Japanese. The suspect, a 52-year-old male surnamed Zhou, who recently arrived in the city and is unemployed, was arrested red-handed, Suzhou police said on Tuesday.

One Japanese victim is receiving treatment with no life-threatening injuries, and one was discharged from the hospital on Monday. Zhou is currently under criminal detention, and the case is under investigation, according to Suzhou police.

Currently, both Japanese citizens are not in critical condition, the injured Chinese citizen is still being treated, and the perpetrator was arrested at the scene. The case is still under further investigation, Mao Ning, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on a Tuesday briefing.

We regret the occurrence of such an incident and China will continue to take effective measures to ensure the safety of all foreigners in China.

The police have reached an initial determined that the Suzhou bus incident was an isolated event and further investigation is ongoing, Mao said. "I want to emphasize that similar isolated incidents can happen in any country in the world, and China will continue to take effective measures to protect the safety of foreigners in China as we do for Chinese citizens," Mao said when being reporters tried to link the Suzhou attack with the previous stabbing of four US citizens in Jilin.

China is widely recognized as one of the safest countries in the world, and we always welcome foreigners to come to China for tourism, study, business, and residency. We will continue to take effective measures to ensure the safety of foreigners in China, said Mao.

However, the Japanese government and media are deliberately hyping accidental events and make reckless connections between the accident and the growing China-Japan relationship.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa expressed regret over the incident and said he hopes for the early recovery of the victims, Japan's NHK reported on Tuesday.

Hayashi said Japanese consulates across China have issued email alerts, urging Japanese nationals to be on the alert when going out.

The Japan Times also brought out question to an official at the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai that whether strained ties between Japan and China could have been behind the attack. The official declined to comment.

The direct involvement of a high-profile official like Hayashi in the incident before the investigation has been concluded is unusual and suggests that the Japanese government is intentionally making a spectacle out of the accident, according to Lü Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences.

The Japanese media's connection of the incident to bilateral relations is not only unnecessary but could also harm China-Japan relations by potentially creating a negative perception of China in Japan, Lü added.