Former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) condition has stabilized after he had a minor stroke, but he is to remain hospitalized under observation, Lee’s office said yesterday.
“Lee was sent to the Taipei Veterans General Hospital in the early hours of Friday after experiencing numbness in his right hand,” Lee’s office director Wang Yan-chun (王燕軍) said in a statement issued yesterday afternoon.
Following a series of examinations, Wang said the hospital concluded that Lee’s symptoms were caused by an embolism that occurred in the small peripheral arteries of the left hemisphere of his brain.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Due to the hospital’s attentive care and treatment, Lee’s condition has stabilized and he will remain in the hospital to recuperate, Wang said.
“We appreciate everyone’s concerns, but we have to decline any visitors during Lee’s time in hospital in accordance with doctors’ advice,” Wang said.
Separately yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she was aware of Lee’s condition, but has not had the time to visit him in person, adding that DPP Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has called Lee’s office to pass on her regards.
Lee, 92, served as president from 1988 to 2000.
In 1988, then-vice president Lee became the first Taiwan-born president when then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) passed away. Lee became the first popularly elected president of Taiwan in 1996.
In July 2013, Lee underwent vertebral artery stenting surgery after he suffered from a vertebral artery occlusion.
He was diagnosed with colon cancer in November 2011, when he had a tumor estimated at 3.5cm by 2.5cm removed.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the