China Seeks Delay in Negotiations to Return Taiwan Jet

China’s airline today asked Taiwan’s national carrier to postpone direct negotiations on the return of a Taiwanese cargo jet whose pilot defected to China, officials in Taiwan said.

Taiwan’s China Airlines had proposed that negotiations start Friday in Hong Kong, but China’s state-run carrier, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said it needed more time to prepare, said Larry Lin, a spokesman for China Airlines.

The announcement was the first confirmation that China had agreed to the talks. The negotiations, proposed Tuesday, will end a 37-year Taiwanese ban on any form of contact with China’s Communist regime. (Story, Page 8.)