Cheng Hung (
Taipei Times: What caused the grievances you mention in the book about the Chinese government's handling of your case?
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Cheng: My wife and I lost almost every penny we had because of the hasty closure of our factory. I was sent away from China within a week of being notified of our infection. No matter how hard we begged, Chinese officials wouldn't give us more time to sell our assets, though we had invested all our savings in the business that we had just started.
I don't blame those officials, who were just doing their duty. But we were in great need of help after being suddenly stricken by the news of the infection.
Moreover, it was extremely difficult to obtain approval for our marriage. After I left, my wife fought for it on her own so that our baby would have a legal status and my wife would be allowed to live with me in Taiwan.
There was also great pressure from Chinese medical professionals, who were trying to force my wife into having an abortion by limiting the information they gave. They always repeated that the delivery would be severely risky.
Fortunately I was back in Taiwan already and had learned that the chances of a safe delivery without the baby being infected were about 70 percent.
My wife passed away and was buried in China. But as an AIDS sufferer, I will have no opportunity to enter China to pay my respects in front of her tomb. I can only wait until China changes its attitude toward sufferers, but that is a long way off.
TT: You mention the tremendous torture of seeing your child suffer because of the constant blood tests since her birth to confirm whether she had AIDS or not -- tests that have so far been negative. What prompted you to have the baby despite the risks?
Cheng: My wife and I respected the rights of the baby and decided to give her a chance. An infected baby would die soon anyway without much suffering. Besides, medical professionals here provided us with sufficient information and had good control over the situation.
TT: Was there discrimination against your wife while she was alone in China?
Cheng: Yes, especially from officials. My father-in-law, a high-level administrator in Tienjin (
TT: What about discrimination in Taiwan?
Cheng: I am luckier than most sufferers and have faced very little obvious prejudice originating from my infection. But of course there is subtle discrimination.
I moved to Taipei to avoid discrimination against Pengpeng, who must go to school with other children, despite the expensive cost of living here. In Penghu (澎湖), in the countryside where I grew up and stayed with my family after the diagnosis, many knew my story.
I brought our case to the attention of the media to help society extinguish its prejudice against AIDS sufferers, because I want Pengpeng to grow up in an environment free from AIDS-discrimination.
I want to show people that how we deal with AIDS is a social issue ? AIDS is not relevant to a particular individual's faults. It does not affect someone because that person is immoral.
I am an upright person and so was my wife, although inevitably we had lovers before we found each other. We had no clue of the source of our infection.
Stereotypes tell us that AIDS is transmitted by homosexuals. But this is not true. AIDS is mostly transmitted by sexual partners of whose infection you are unaware. They may even be unaware of their infection themselves.
I barely knew about AIDS before becoming a victim. Like other Taiwanese, I was only taught that AIDS is a disease resulting in terrible suffering.
Most people fear AIDS without much understanding, causing stigmatization of the illness. Health authorities should educate the public better about AIDS rather than seeking to prevent its spread simply by arousing fear.
On the other hand, because most sufferers fear to share their stories with the public, people can only understand AIDS from past stereotypes.
Society's perception of the disease is different from a decade ago. Sufferers should understand AIDS as nothing but a chronic disease and there is no reason why they should feel inferior because of the infection.
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