George Lin, a Chinese-American man, has been detained in China after falsely claiming his luggage contained explosives during a flight from Taipei to the eastern Chinese city of Shanghai.
Taiwan's China Airlines had to divert the plane with 293 passengers and 22 crew on board to the Chinese city of Hangzhou on Saturday April 1 morning after 68-year-old Lin told the cabin crew about the purported explosives.
But, no explosive was found on board the plane after it was thoroughly searched on landing in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, where Lin was taken away for questioning by Chinese authorities. After four hours on the ground, the plane continued on to Shanghai and landed there without further incident.
China and Taiwan began regular direct flights in 2008. There are now some 270 weekly flights between the sides. (Source: AP, May 2, 2010).