Taiwan this week repatriated eight Chinese nationals convicted for hijacking Chinese aircraft to Taiwan, the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
The MAC has kept a low profile concerning the repatriation of the hijackers, partly because most Chinese hijackers resist repatriation. The hijackers will very likely stand trial again after their return to China because Beijing does not recognize Taiwan's judicial authority.
Four of the hijackers -- Qi Daquan (
Four other hijackers -- Zhang Hai (
The eight hijackers were sent to Matsu earlier this week, under police escort and accompanied by staff members of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and Taiwan's Red Cross Society.
The MAC said it authorized the SEF to handle the repatriation earlier this month after the Red Cross Societies on both sides of the Strait reached a consensus on the issue.
Noting that aircraft hijacking is a universal crime, the MAC said all the hijackers have served jail terms and have been released on parole in accordance with Taiwan law.
A total of 13 Chinese commercial aircraft were hijacked by 18 Chinese and flown to Taiwan between 1993 and 1998. Two hijackers -- Huang Shugang (
In February 1999, three hijackers -- Yang Mingde (
The attempt failed and the trio were brought back to Taiwan and convicted of hijacking a second time. They are now in the process of appeals.
The incident caused a suspension in the repatriation of hijackers for more than a year.
"Police officers and SEF staff have exercised great prudence in handling the repatriation of the two batches of mainland hijackers in the past two days," a MAC official said.
Gao Jun, one of the hijackers repatriated yesterday, began a hunger strike on Feb. 19 when he was paroled by the Taipei Prison and transferred to the Hsinchu Refugee Camp for Mainland Chinese to await deportation.
In response to the hunger strike, he was shackled to a stretcher by detention center staff and transferred to a hospital in Hsinchu, where he was force-fed by doctors.
"For humanitarian reasons, we force-fed him to prolong his life," said Peng Ching-chin (
"He used to resist repatriation, now he says he wants to go back [to China] soon. But I wonder if, when we're to send him back, he might resist again," Lai Hsieh-yi (
Gao, a garment seller from the northern Chinese city of Qingdao, used a scalpel to hijack a Chinese Northern Airlines MD-82 jet while on a flight from Qingdao to Fuzhou on Dec. 8, 1993.
Taiwan detained Gao but returned the plane -- along with 129 passengers and eight crew members -- to China.
Gao has reportedly attempted suicide seven times over the last seven years -- by swallowing a toothbrush, batteries, paper clips and a thermometer.
Among the other hijackers, Air China pilot Yuan Bin and his wife Xu Mei commandeered a jet with 104 passengers in 1998. They complained of low pay and miserable perks on the Chinese flag-carrier.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
DISPUTE: A Chinese official prompted a formal protest from Tokyo by saying that ‘the dirty head that sticks itself out must be cut off,’ after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks Four armed China Coast Guard vessels yesterday morning sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan, amid a diplomatic spat following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan. The four ships sailed around the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to Taiwan, and which Taiwan and China also claim — on Saturday before entering Japanese waters yesterday and left, the Japan Coast Guard said. The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters and that it was a lawful operation. As of the end of last month,
RSS