AIDS father tells of nightmare in China

Cheng Hung (鄭鴻) -- a pseudonym to protect his identity -- is a 42-year-old Taiwanese man. When his partner became pregnant in 1998 they, having started their own business in China, decided to marry there. But then a compulsory health check showed that they were HIV-positive. His wife died of an AIDS-related illness two years ago during a visit to her family in China. Cheng currently supports their two-year-old daughter Peng-peng (芃芃) -- also a pseudonym -- who remains uninfected, on the meager income of a cab driver whose parenting duties prevent him from working a full day. He recently published a book called I Wish I Could Grow Up With You: The Wish of an AIDS Dad recording his and his wife's years of struggle against AIDS to remind Pengpeng of her parents' love and to promote a better understanding of AIDS. He also hopes to attract candidates as potential future adoptive parents for Peng-peng.

Taipei Times: What caused the grievances you mention in the book about the Chinese government's handling of your case?

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 (天津), suffered under the pressure also.

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.