China Will Release Taiwan Cargo Plane : 2 Crewmen, Jet Will Be Flown to Hong Kong

After a third round of unprecedented negotiations, China today agreed to return to Taiwan via Hong Kong a cargo plane and two crewmen who were flown to China by a defecting pilot.

Zhang Ruipu, head of the Chinese delegation that conducted the first face-to-face talks with Taiwan in 37 years, told a news conference the two delegations will meet Tuesday to work out details of the transfer of the Boeing 747.

He said the China Airlines plane, flown to the southern Chinese city of Canton by pilot Wang Hsi-chueh, 56, on May 3, will be flown to Hong Kong by a crew from China’s state-run airline, the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The Chinese had insisted during three days of negotiations that Taiwan send a delegation to Canton to reclaim the plane, cargo and the two crewmen, co-pilot Tung Kung-shin, 57, and technician Chiu Ming-chiu, 40.

Demand Dropped

But Zhang said the Chinese decided to drop the demand at today’s meeting as a good-will gesture toward Taiwan.

The Chinese concession was apparently intended to demonstrate a reasonable attitude on the part of Peking, which hopes to entice Taiwan into a “two-Chinas” policy, such as it negotiated for Hong Kong when the British colony reverts to China in 1997.

In Taipei, China Airlines spokesman Larry Lin said the carrier does not regard the outcome of the talks as a victory “because the release of all three crewmen, including Wang Hsi-chueh, is our final goal.

“We reserve the right to request Wang’s return unless Tung and Chiu tell us that Wang flew over there at his own will,” Lin told reporters.

No Talks With Pilot

Chung Tsan-jung, who heads the Taiwan delegation, said at a news conference in Hong Kong that China has refused to allow delegation members to talk to the pilot.

Taiwan maintains Wang did not defect but was forced to fly to China, although the pilot told a news conference in Peking he defected to be reunited with his 82-year-old father in central Sichuan province.

Wang Fu-yao, the pilot’s son, said in a telephone interview that relatives still refused to believe his father had defected. “I hope he is allowed to visit Hong Kong to clarify the situation,” he said.

First Direct Talks

The negotiations over the return of the plane were the first direct talks between Taiwan and China since the Nationalists fled across the 100-mile-wide Formosa Strait to Taiwan after being defeated on the mainland by the communists in 1949.

Taiwan had shunned all contact with China. The Nationalists’ willingness to negotiate has raised speculation about the possibility of future meetings with the communists.

Both sides have said the talks had no political significance, but were a business matter involving two airlines, not their governments.