Ex-president Lee in hospital after stroke
TAIPEI: Former Taiwan President Lee Tenghui remained in hospital yesterday after suffering a stroke, his office said.
Mr Lee checked into the Taipei Veterans General Hospital early on Friday morning after complaining of numbness in his right hand. His medical team later discovered that the paralysis was caused by a clot in the left side of his head. He is now in stable condition, the statement said.
Mr Lee, 92, was Taiwan’s first popularly elected leader and headed the Nationalist Party (KMT) from 1988 to 2000.
Last year he underwent surgery to remove cancerous cells from the lining of his mouth and was hospitalised for pneumonia in November last year.
He has cardiovascular problems and has had several balloon angioplasty surgeries, while he also underwent surgery to remove a malignant colon tumour in November 2011. During the 12-year stint of his presidency, Mr Lee played a key role in transforming Taiwan from an authoritarian state with a history of bloody repression to a pluralistic society marked by free speech and democratic accountability.
He was expelled from the party for supporting a proindependence alliance after leaving office in 2000. In the run-up to the 2012 elections, Mr Lee urged Taiwanese voters to dump President Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT and back main opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen.
Ms Tsai lost the 2012 election and is contesting the top position again in the 2016 presidential poll. Growing up under Japanese rule in Taiwan, Mr Lee developed an affinity for Japan even before he went to study at Kyoto Imerial University, now Kyoto University.