At around 10 a.m. on 28 October 1998, a Boeing 737 passenger plane flying from Beijing to Kunming suddenly changed course and flew in the direction of Taiwan without hesitation.
Boeing 737 aircraft
That's right, this is the last time that a Chinese mainland civil airliner was hijacked to Taiwan so far.
I believe that many people have heard of it in the second half of the last century, due to tensions in cross-strait relations and other reasons, there were many hijacking incidents, including the hijacking of fighter planes and the hijacking of civilian passenger planes.
The reason for this kind of hijacking of the plane was that after the Chiang father and son retreated to Taiwan in defeat, they preached Taiwan's preferential treatment policy to the mainland through various channels, instigated the PLA pilots to hijack the plane to Taiwan, and promised to give the hijackers safety and prosperity.
However, in the early 90s, with the easing of cross-strait relations, the civil aviation administrations of the two sides of the strait had reached a unanimous attitude against the hijacking incident and promised each other that the hijackers would be prosecuted and punished in accordance with legal procedures.
So, why was the Boeing 737 of October 28, 1998, hijacked, and what was the final outcome of the hijackers?
According to public information, the Boeing 737 numbered CA-905 that day took off from Beijing and the destination was Kunming, with a total of 104 people on board that day, including 20 foreign passengers.
According to the recollection of the co-pilot Wen Fei, when the plane flew over Taiyuan, the captain Yuan Bin blurted out the sentence -- I want to hijack the plane to Taiwan.
At first, Wen Fei thought Yuan Bin was joking, because the two have been working together for four years and have flown back and forth together hundreds of times.
Seeing that Wen Fei did not respond, Yuan Bin repeated again, saying that he was going to fly the plane to Taiwan, and asked Wen Fei to cooperate with him, so that he could ensure the safety of the passengers on the plane.
At this time, Xu Mei, Yuan Bin's wife, who had previously entered the cab, also repeated Yuan Bin's instructions.
Yuan Bin and his wife Xu Mei
In fact, before taking off, when Yuan Bin's wife Xu Mei also appeared among the passengers, Wen Fei felt a little surprised, because Xu Mei is a teacher in a primary school in Beijing, and it was not a holiday, Xu Mei had no reason to fly to Kunming, and when Yuan Bin proposed to let Xu Mei accompany him in the cab, Wen Fei felt that something was wrong, but he felt that everyone was an acquaintance, as long as they did not interfere with driving.
Now it seems that Yuan Bin and his wife Xu Mei have discussed to hijack the plane together, and Wen Fei realized the seriousness of the matter.
In the next few minutes, Wen Fei persuaded Yuan Bin from the perspective of a friend and colleague, and analyzed with him the danger of rushing to Taiwan, which was likely to be shot down directly by Kuomintang fighters.
Boeing 737 cockpit
Wen Fei persuaded Yuan Bin not to do anything stupid, as long as he continued to fly to Kunming, he could not report the matter to the unit, but as Yuan Bin suddenly adjusted the rudder, Wen Fei knew that it was too late.
Because Yuan Bin has always been the kind of character who does what he says, and if he takes coercive measures at this time, then the result is likely to be that the plane is out of control, and finally the plane is destroyed and people die, in view of the previous hijacking accident at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport that led to 128 deaths, Wen Fei had to withdraw from the co-pilot seat at this time and give way to Xu Mei.
At around 10:20 a.m., the plane had already flown over Fujian Province and was heading toward the Taiwan Strait, when the civil aviation administrations on both the mainland and Taiwan had already received the news that the plane had been hijacked.
When Yuan Bin flew his plane over the center line of the Taiwan Strait, four Taiwan fighter planes immediately took to the air in an attempt to intercept the "uninvited guest."
At this time, the passengers in the plane had realized that something was wrong, because not only did there appear a sea below, but they could already see the Kuomintang fighters, and at this moment, if the Kuomintang fighters opened fire on the passenger plane, then all 104 people on the plane would be buried at the bottom of the sea.
Fortunately, the Civil Aviation Administration of the mainland has communicated in advance, making it clear that this is not a terrorist attack, but a hijacking incident, and the mainland has previously done an emergency rehearsal with Taiwan, and these four fighter jets are to guide the hijacked plane to Taoyuan Airport.
Taiwan Taoyuan Airport
Seeing the presence of Kuomintang fighters, Yuan Bin was very emotional, and immediately radioed to declare that he was the captain of the plane, and that the plane itself was not a threat, and asked to land in Taipei.
Half an hour later, the passenger plane finally landed safely at Taoyuan Airport, and dozens of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances had been prepared in advance in the landing area.
When the cabin door of the passenger plane opened, Yuan Bin and his lover Xu Mei were immediately controlled, and then taken away for questioning alone, and after the other passengers were sure that there was no accident, the plane flew to Kunming with these passengers at two o'clock in the afternoon.
As for Yuan Bin and Xu Mei, what awaits them is not the so-called preferential treatment, but strict interrogation, and a sentence of at least seven years.
Yuan Bin originally thought that even if he was sentenced to serve a prison sentence in Taiwan, he could be released on parole, at most a few years in prison, and finally be able to settle in Taiwan, but this was not the case, and according to the attitude towards the hijackers previously discussed between the mainland and Taiwan, Yuan Bin and Xu Mei would be immediately repatriated to the mainland after their release from prison.
You must know that Yuan Bin was only in his early thirties at the time, and his monthly income as a captain was approaching 10,000 yuan at that time, and Xu Mei was also a primary school teacher, and the living conditions of the husband and wife had already surpassed those of most families, so why did they choose to leave Beijing and fly to Taiwan?
According to people familiar with the matter, Yuan Bin thought that he had suffered unfair treatment in the process of the last unit subdivision, and was only allocated a small two-bedroom apartment.
Beijing in the 90s
Therefore, Yuan Bin felt that he was wearing small shoes, and wanted to use the hijacking of the plane to express his dissatisfaction while dragging the unit leaders into the water, and the most important thing is that he believed that he and his wife would definitely be treated preferentially after going to Taiwan.
It's just that Yuan Bin didn't expect that he became a prisoner when he arrived in Taiwan, and was repatriated to the mainland a few years later, and after returning to Beijing, the two of them not only lost their jobs, but also took back their previous two-bedroom apartment, and the second half of their lives were completely ruined because of the wrong decision at the beginning.
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