Asylum-Seeker Hijacks Chinese Jet to Taiwan
A Chinese asylum-seeker posing as a policeman and accompanied by his family hijacked a Chinese airliner to Taiwan on Friday, the 11th such hijacking since April.
Taiwan detained the man for trial on air piracy charges. But in a break with previous practice, it forcibly sent the four family members who had traveled with him--his foster mother, wife and two sons, aged 8 and 10--back to China.
Lin Wenqiang, 35, dressed in the uniform of a Chinese policeman, used a fruit knife and a fake bomb--a teacup stuffed with toilet paper--to force a China Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 to Taipei.
He surrendered to Taiwan authorities and requested asylum for himself and his family. The plane and its crew members and other passengers, including Lin’s family, were sent back to China four hours later.
It was the first time that Taiwan had forcibly repatriated family members not accused of air piracy.
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