The World - News from Sept. 12, 1988

China announced that it will no longer reward military defectors from Taiwan. The New China News Agency, quoting a military spokesman as saying the system of rewards is being abolished effective immediately, said the decision is intended to create a more peaceful environment for improving relations between Communist China and rival Nationalist Taiwan. It said several hundred Nationalist Chinese soldiers, including 101 air force officers in 43 military aircraft, have defected to the mainland since the civil war of the late 1940s. Taiwan also has offered rewards of gold for mainland Chinese pilots who defect to Taiwan.