1986 aircraft hijacking
China Airlines Flight 334 was a Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD freighter aircraft that was hijacked by pilot Wang Hsi-chueh (), a former military U-2 pilot, on May 3, 1986, while en route to Don Mueang, Thailand. Wang had left family members behind in China when he left for Taiwan in 1949 and had met some of them in Hong Kong in 1984. He decided to defect in order to reunite with his family in China.
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 involved was a Boeing 747-2R7F/SCD freighter, MSN 22390, registered as "B-198", that was built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 1980. It was equipped with four Pratt &amp; Whitney JT9D-7R4G2 engines. On December 29, 1991, this aircraft, later operating as China Airlines Flight 358, crashed into the side of a hill 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 (UTC+8). 
Aftermath.
The aircraft, its cargo, and the two crew who did not defect, the co-pilot and a technician, were turned over to Taiwanese authorities on May 24, 1986, at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport.
By forcing the ROC (Taiwan) to communicate with PRC (China), 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, Taiwan officially ended martial law.
The accident aircraft in question, under flight number 358, would eventually crash after takeoff when the right side engines on the aircraft separated on December 29, 1991, killing all five crew on board.
Notes.
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References.
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