China Airlines Flight 334


China Airlines Flight 334 was a Boeing 747-200F freighter aircraft that was hijacked by pilot Wang Xijue on May 3, 1986 while en route to Don Mueang, Thailand. Wang managed to subdue the two other crew members and changed course to land the 747 in Guangzhou, where he defected to the People's Republic of China. The incident forced the Chiang Ching-kuo government in Taiwan to reverse its Three Noes policy in regard to contacting the communist government in mainland China, and Chiang dispatched several delegates to Hong Kong to negotiate with mainland officials for the return of the aircraft and crew. The incident was credited as a catalyst in renewing cross-strait relations between mainland China and Taiwan.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD freighter, registration B-198, built in September 1980 originally for Cargolux. The ROC Ministry of Transportation Civil Aviation Authority acquired the aircraft in June 1985 and then leased it to China Airlines.
On 29 December 1991, this aircraft, later operating as China Airlines Flight 358, hit a hillside near Wanli, Taiwan after the separation of its number three and four engines, killing all five crew on board.

Incident

The following times are all in the Beijing/Taipei/Hong Kong time zone.

May 3

By forcing the ROC to communicate with PRC, Flight 334 was the first step in the thawing of relations. It effectively ended the Three Noes policy and ultimately led to the reunification of families across the straits a year later and has led to officially establishing the Three Links that were originally outlined in a 1979 PRC proposal by 2008. In 1987 the ROC officially ended martial law due to thawing relations and other global realities, like the declining influence of communist aligned parties like the Soviet Union.