     Taiwan can increase its Gross National Product (GNP) five fold if it 
can successfully use the economies of the mainland and Southeast Asian 
countries for its future growth, a government-commissioned report said yes-
terday.
     The report, funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Industrial De-
velopment and Investment Center, was undertaken by the Far Eastern Club of 
Economic Research.
     The research for the report was overseen by Council for Economic Plan-
ning and Development Vice Chairman Chi Schive.
     The report, which studied ways in which Taiwan could be transformed 
into a regional finance and operations center, said that Taiwan could 
potentially increase its GNP from US$210.5 billion to US$1 trillion if it 
could use these countries as a hinterland for the island's economic deve-
lopment.
     Schive said in the report that Taiwan should expand its hinterlands 
for economic development if it wishes to replace Hong Kong and Singapore 
and become a business operational center in the Asia-Pacific region.
     Therefore, Taiwan should pursue its "Go South" and mainland policies 
simultaneously so that it would have a large hinterland for economic deve-
lopment, the report said.
     In 1992, Taiwan's Gross National Product (GNP) was US$210.5 billion, 
which was more than twice Hong Kong's US$91.4 billion and 4.5 times Singa-
pore's US$46.6 billion.
     Taiwan, however, was behind Hong Kong and Singapore in telecommunica-
tions, mail and financial services, the report said.
     The report cites an evaluation on the telecommunications infrastruc-
tures in developing countries and said Singapore came first with a score of 
97.5 on a 100 point scale.  Hong Kong came in second with 94.8.  Taiwan was 
eights on the list, with a 74.8 score.
     Taiwan should therefore speed up its efforts to privatize the island's 
telecommunications industry and ease the ruling over state-run corporations 
if it wanted to become a financial and operations hub in the Asia-Pacific 
region.
     Schive also proposed that Taiwan should ease restrictions on capital 
flow, the stock market and non-banking financial services to make the bank-
ing and financial sector more competitive.
     Taiwan should also simplify the procedures for foreign or overseas 
Chinese investments in Taiwan's stock market, banking services and other 
businesses, he said.
     Currently, Hong Kong dominates the market for businesses going to the 
mainland.  Its economic strength, or GNP, could therefore jump to US$484.4 
billion, he said.
     Singapore, on the other hand, was the gateway to the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) markets and its economy had the potential 
of growing up to S$373.9 billion.
     Schive said that Taiwan's GNP could be expected to grow to about 
US$400 billion if its present investments in the mainland was taken into 
account.
     However, if Taiwan could successfully develop its investments in 
Southeast Asia, its economic strength would grow by an additional US$600 
billion.
     If this happened, then foreign companies would want to set up their 
business headquarters in Taiwan, the report said.
     A mainland Chinese wearing a serviceman's uniform hijacked a mainland 
Southeast Airlines flight to Taiwan yesterday morning after he threatened 
the pilot with a fruit knife and a fake explosive.
     He had on tow his wife, two sons aged 11 and 9, and foster mother.
     The hijacking was the first from mainland China to Taiwan this year 
and the 11th since April last year.
     Police identified the hijacker as 35-year-old Lin Wenqiang of Fujian 
province.  Lin was taken into custody for questioning, while the plane was 
allowed to continue its flight to Fujian via Hong Kong in the afternoon.
     Lin told police that he decided to hijack the Boeing 737 because he 
was irritated over bureaucratic problems over his application to set up a 
company in Changsha in the southeastern province of Hunan.
     Lin's wife, 32-year-old Huang Chunlien, refused to leave the airport 
upon learning that her husband was taken into custody.
     But the prosecutor decided to hand Huang and her family over to the 
flight crew after he questioned them and determined that they were not in-
volved in the hijacking.
     Huang tried to resist and had to be dragged onto the plane by police 
officers.
     Vice Justice Minister Lin Shyi-hwu said Lin's family members were re-
turned to the mainland because they were not involved in the hijacking and 
were given the same treatment as other passengers.
     Lin said the decision may help curb hijackings.  In two previous 
cases, family members of hijackers were allowed to remain in Taiwan because 
they were found to be involved in the hijackings, he said.
     Kao Koong-lian, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, urged 
the mainland authorities to sign an agreement with Taiwan for the repatria-
tion of hijackers as soon as possible.  Before the agreement is signed, 
Taiwan has to handle hijackings according to its own law, he said.
     Interior Minister Wu Po-hsiung said when the Straits Exchange Founda-
tion and its mainland counterpart meet in Taipei in late March, they might 
agree to add a retroactive clause for the repatriation of mainland hijack-
ers who have come here in the past year.
     The plane, carrying 133 passengers and crew members, was hijacked to 
Taiwan shortly after it took off from Chengdu in southwestern China on a 
regular flight to Fuzhou.
     The plane landed at the Chiang Kaishek International Airport at 10:42 
am and was allowed to leave Taiwan at 2:44 pm.  A spokesman for the Hong 
Kong Government said the plane had entered the mainland at 3:30 pm.