Something on that particular Boeing 777 was more important than the lives of 239 people and it’s final destination was to be Beijing China. Do the math.
I’ll do the math as I see it. Any cargo or personnel that China wished to steal/abduct from the plane could’ve been stolen/abducted once the plane landed in Beijing as normal. With MUCH less international attention, not to mention it would’ve been MUCH easier to pull off, and it would’ve been MUCH more of a reliable operation once the plane was already on the ground in Beijing.