Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) has been diagnosed with stage two colon cancer, but he is recovering well after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor on Tuesday, Taipei Veterans General Hospital said yesterday.
“Lee is in stable condition and is recovering well because the cancerous cells were found and removed early,” hospital superintendent Lin Fang-yue (林芳郁) said, adding that details of Lee’s illness would be confirmed after a pathology report comes out in three to seven days.
During a regular physical check-up at the hospital on Monday, Lee was diagnosed with colon adenocarcinoma, the most common form of colorectal cancer.
He underwent two-and-a-half hours of surgery the following day to remove the tumor, which was estimated at 3.5cm by 2.5cm in size.
“A good recovery can be expected because the tumor was detected early,” Lin said. “The most important thing right now is for him to regain his strength.”
However, Lee is not really in a condition to receive visitors, he said.
“Many legislators from both the ruling and opposition parties, who have good relations with Lee, have come to the hospital to express their concern,” but they did not get to visit Lee, Lin said. “It’s not the right time for visits, given Lee’s age and the ordeal that he has just been through.”
Lin’s comments came amid media reports that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had visited the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, despite the hospital telling the Presidential Office that it was not a good time.
The Presidential Office had informed the hospital at 4:30pm that Ma would visit Lee, Lin said, adding that the hospital replied at 5pm that the 88-year-old former president was not in a condition to receive guests. Ma arrived at the hospital at 5:40pm and stayed for 10 minutes for a briefing by Lee’s medical team, Lin said.
Wang Yan-chun (王燕軍), director of Lee’s office, said the office had twice advised the Presidential Office against a visit from Ma because of Lee’s condition.
“We told the Presidential Office that Lee would not rule out meeting President Ma. However, he could not do it today,” Wang said, adding it has also turned down requests by many of Lee’s friends who wanted to pay a visit.
Ma was criticized by the pan-green camp for “politicizing” his visit to benefit his presidential re-election campaign by going to the hospital even after his request for a visit had been declined.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she would visit Lee at “the appropriate time.”
However, the Presidential Office yesterday denied Ma went to the hospital without informing Lee’s office about his visit.
Presidential Office spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi (范姜泰基) said the office had informed Lee’s office before Ma decided to go to the hospital.
He said Ma just wanted to extend his best wishes to Lee.
“The president respected former president Lee’s wishes and he simply wanted to express his best wishes to the former president, who is also a former superintendent of the president,” Fan Chiang said.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and CNA
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS