Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presumptive presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said that she had undergone treatment for breast cancer, as reported by Chinese-language Next Magazine, but that she currently has no health issues.
“It is tragic for Taiwan to witness [negative election campaign tactics used] to such an extent,” she said.
The latest issue of the magazine reported that Hung underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer found during a routine physical examination in 2011, adding that she has been having regular follow-up checks over the past three years and that she is in good health.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The report quoted an “informed pan-blue camp member” as saying that Hung’s physical condition is not a secret within the party.
While KMT lawmakers brought up the issue in a recent caucus meeting, the faction aiming to thwart Hung’s nomination plans to focus on the issue during the party’s national congress on July 19 and question her ability to run for president, the magazine said.
Hung said she has been waiting to hold a news conference on the issue, suggesting that her team foresaw it would arise at some point.
When asked whether she regards the information as having been leaked by KMT members or the opposition camp, Hung said: “I do not care about where the news came from.”
She then spoke of how she underwent therapy while continuing to fulfill her role as a KMT legislator.
“I was found to have breast cancer in March 2011 and underwent surgery on April 6. The next day was my birthday, so I literally had a rebirth. After the surgery, there was therapy, which I undertook during the presidential and legislative election campaign period,” she said.
“I was present in the south and the north for all of the [election] rallies to which I had been invited. In Taipei, I went to all of the [KMT] legislators’ activities and I often hosted presidential campaign events, during which I had to stand for hours,” Hung said. “At that time I was in the middle of my treatment. I never delayed any important meetings concerning party affairs.”
Questioned whether the information might have been aimed at “hounding her out of her candidacy on July 19,” Hung said she had no comment, but likened her road to candidacy to Buddhist monk Xuanzang’s (玄奘) legendary pilgrimage (depicted in the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West), “during which there are demons and ghosts on the way waiting to test you.”
“I would not be here [at a news conference] if I was entertaining the thought of dropping out of the election,” she said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday condemned the source that revealed Hung’s medical history, saying that the information should not be used for political manipulation, adding that the party offered its best wishes to Hung.
“I think it is unethical for someone to publicize information about her health, because a politician has both a public side and a private side, and her privacy, especially when it concerns health, should be fully respected,” DPP Legislator Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) said.
“Of course a president or a presidential candidate should tell the public about his or her health conditions out of respect for society, the nation and the presidency. However, the president or the presidential candidate should take the initiative to do so,” he added.
DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that if someone within the KMT was trying to use the information for political gain, “it is immoral.”
“We admire her for her courage and wish her the best of luck,” DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said, adding that DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has asked all party members to refrain from talking about Hung’s health during campaigning.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
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