The word "stalemate" defined relations between Taiwan and China in the 1970s and early 1980s. Neither side wanted to legitimize the other with "official" talks so ideas such as postal and travel links, as well as the most important - family reunions - went nowhere. But everything would change in 1986 when a former ROC Airforce U2 spy plane pilot did the unthinkable - hijacking his China Airlines cargo plane and flying it to Guangzhou.