Li Ao says Lee has tumor on his spleen

As if the presidential race didn't have enough scandals and accusations already, New Party presidential candidate Li Ao (李敖) and Taipei City Councilor Li Ching-yuan (李慶元) have added their potshots to the general fusillade.

In a new book entitled Chen Shui-bian's True Face (陳水扁的真面目), the two once again claim that President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) candidate of choice is the DPP's Chen Shui-bian.

They also claim that Lee has been suffering from a fatal tumor in his spleen, brought on by a year of increasing cross-strait tensions.

In a chapter titled "The secret behind Lee Teng-hui's handover of power ahead of schedule (李登輝提前交棒秘辛)," the two Li's claim Lee was ready to dump KMT presidential candidate and Vice President Lien Chan (連戰) to save Chen.

The city councilor claimed Lee's supporters in the US have already made plans to call on overseas Chinese to "dump Lien to save Chen."

He also said that Lee's two recent visits to National Taiwan University Hospital were for treatment of the tumor.

Chen Yiao-chang (陳耀昌), Lee's doctor, refuted the claims, saying that the president was in the hospital with a fever because of a cold.