Pilot Yuan Bin of the state-owned Air China Boeing 737, which was on a flight from Beijing to the southwestern city of Kunming en route to Yangon, and his wife Xu Mei were detained at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) international airport immediately after the landing, Taiwanese media reported.

Taiwan's state run television quoted Yuan as saying that he was dissatisfied with the situation in China and so he brought his wife aboard and hijacked the plane.

The hijacking sparked a brief military alert in Taipei as radar showed the Air China Boeing veering from the commercial flights path and over to the Taiwan Straits.

Taiwan's air force dispatched four fighters to escort the plane after being informed about the intrusion of its air space and the aircraft landedat the airport at 0900 ist.

No one was hurt in the hijack drama.

Helmeted security officers in bulletproof vests took out the pilot without struggle. His wife followed close behind.

Earlier, China urged Taiwan to repatriate the pilot and the aircraft.

The aircraft with 94 passengers and remaining eight crew was flown back by another pilot, Wen Fei, with the assistance of two co-pilots via Hong Kong, complying with Taipei's ban on direct air crossing of the Taiwan Strait by Chinese airliners.

AFP ADDS: The plane landed at the Xiamen airport in the mainland.

The airport official said it had not yet been determined when the aircraft would continue its scheduled flight to Kunming.

Taiwan rejected Beijing's request for the return of the couple, insisting on conducting its own investigation.

Taiwan Prime Minister Vencent Siew condemned the hijacking, the first involving a mainland airplane in four years, saying it would be handled according to Taiwanese laws.

``Hijackings areinternationally condemned and we have developed a system for handling the situations,'' Siew said.

``We will follow our usual practice... no matter who the hijackers are, they will face our laws,'' Siew added.