Some people in China have expressed concerns and anger about overseas students' safety after the U.S. police failed to find a visiting Chinese scholar who had gone missing for 18 days.
The FBI announced on Tuesday that they had found the car, which Zhang Yingying, a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), was last seen taking when she went missing on June 9, media reported.
The FBI said on June 17 that they are offering a $10,000 reward for information that helps to find Zhang, U.S. media reported.
However, the whereabouts of Zhang remain a mystery until now.
Many Chinese netizens questioned why the FBI has failed to solve the case so far.
"The FBI was just able to find the car even with the help of the surveillance camera? It looks like the FBI is only FBI in the U.S. TV series," said Sina Weibo user "tejingsir."
Zhang's case has also triggered heated discussion in China on students' safety, with many parents who are planning to send their children to study in the U.S. saying they will "reconsider their decision."
The U.S. Embassy in China told the Global Times previously that "a safe environment for all students is a top priority for school administrators in the U.S. Instances of violence on campuses in the U.S. are very rare."
"I was considering to send my children to the U.S. before Zhang's case. But now I have ruled the U.S. out of my list because it is not safe, for example, the country has no gun control," a parent in Southwest China's Yunnan Province told the Global Times.
Zhang's family arrived in the U.S. on June 17 where they met with the authorities and university officials.
"Once my daughter is found, I will never let her visit the U.S. again," Yingying's father, Zhang Ronggao was quoted by the Beijing Youth Daily as saying.
UIUC Police said previously on its Facebook page that the surveillance camera recorded Zhang standing on the street when the Saturn Astra pulled up beside her.
More than 300,000 Chinese students and scholars are studying in the U.S. universities currently, the People's Daily reported in June.
