Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Steve Chan (詹啟賢) yesterday dismissed a media report that Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) had been diagnosed with lung cancer before the presidential election in March last year and that he had helped Siew conceal his condition.
“Would a person who had been diagnosed with cancer postpone his operation until he was elected?” asked Chan, former superintendent of the Tainan-based Chi Mei Medical Center, in response to a report in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday.
The report said there was speculation within the KMT that Siew had consulted Chan and been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma before the election.
The rumor began circulating when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) left for a 10-day state visit to Central America on May 26, with some KMT members discussing the possibility of Siew being replaced, the report said.
Siew had surgery at Taipei Veterans General Hospital on May 20 to have two tumors removed. He was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and is expected to undergo targeted therapy.
Chan called a press conference at KMT headquarters yesterday afternoon and demanded that the China Times run a correction.
Chan said Siew had always taken his health exams at National Taiwan University Hospital, except for the one time when Siew visited him at the center in Tainan in May 2006.
“How could I have diagnosed [Siew] with cancer during the [presidential] campaign when the only time I had conducted a health exam on [Siew] was three years ago?” Chan asked.
“Whoever started the rumor has an ulterior motive and people who believe it lack common sense,” he said. “Anyone with medical knowledge would know that the surgery would not have gone so smoothly if the cancer was detected three years ago.”
Chan said what was found in Siew’s left lung during his health exam at Chi Mei Medical Center that year was a tubercle, which tested negative.
Chan said he reminded Siew at the time to make sure he did follow-up examinations.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
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