| Control Yuan | |
| Native Name A: | Chinese: 監察院 |
| Native Name R: | Jiānchá Yuàn (Mandarin) Kàm-tshat Īnn (Taiwanese) Kam-chhat Yen (Hakka) |
| Seal: | Emblem of Control Yuan (2021).svg |
| Seal Size: | 200px |
| Preceding1: | Auditing Yuan |
| Jurisdiction: | Taiwan |
| Status: | Parliamentary institution suspended since 1993 |
| Headquarters: | Zhongzheng District, Taipei |
| Chief1 Name: | Chen Chu |
| Chief1 Position: | President of the Control Yuan |
| Chief2 Name: | Lee Hung-chun |
| Chief2 Position: | Vice President of the Control Yuan |
| Keydocument1: | Additional Articles and the original Constitution of the Republic of China |
| Control Yuan | |
| Native Name: | Chinese: 監察院 |
| Background Color: |
|
| Text Color: |
|
| Seats: | 178 |
| Term Length: | 6 years |
| Authority: | Constitution of the Republic of China |
| Voting System1: | Indirect election |
| Session Room: | Former Legislative Yuan & Control Yuan in Nanjing 2011-10.JPG |
| Session Res: | 300px |
| Meeting Place: | Control Yuan Building, Nanking (1948-1950) Control Yuan Building, Taipei, Taiwan |
| Constitution: | Constitution of the Republic of China |
| Piccap: | Emblem of the Control Yuan used until 2021. |
| Picsize: | 200px |
| T: | 監察院 |
| S: | 监察院 |
| Bpmf: | ㄐㄧㄢ ㄔㄚˊ ㄩㄢˋ |
| W: | Chien1-ch'a2 Yüan4 |
| P: | Jiānchá Yuàn |
| Tp: | Jianchá Yuàn |
| Mps: | Jiānchá Yuàn |
| Gr: | Jianchar Yuann |
| Tl: | Kàm-tshat Īnn |
| Poj: | Kàm-chhat Iⁿ |
| H: | Kam-chhat Yen |
The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China, both during its time in mainland China and Taiwan.[1]
Designed as a hybrid of auditor and ombudsman by Taiwanese law, the Control Yuan holds the following powers:[2]
According to the current Constitution, the Control Yuan shall consist of 29 members. One member shall be the President of the Control Yuan, and another shall be the Vice President. All members, including the President and Vice President of Control Yuan, shall be nominated by the President of Taiwan and approved by Legislative Yuan (the parliament of Taiwan). Members serve with a term limit of six years.
Prior to constitutional reforms in the 1990s, the Control Yuan, along with National Assembly (electoral college) and the Legislative Yuan (lower house) formed the national tricameral parliament. It functioned similarly to an upper house of a bicameral legislature, though it formed its own separate branch and was indirectly elected by provincial or municipal legislatures with 178 senators elected.[5]
The Control Yuan consists of a council with 29 members, including a President and a Vice President and the National Audit Office. All 29 members and the auditor-general are nominated by the President of the Republic and approved by Legislative Yuan for 6-year terms. The incumbent 6th Control Yuan was nominated by President Tsai Ing-wen on June 22, 2020 [6] and later confirmed by Legislative Yuan on July 17, 2020.[7] Members inaugurated on August 1, 2020, and their terms expire on July 31, 2026.
| width=350 | President! | width=350 | Vice President |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chen Chu | Post Vacant | ||
| Members | |||
| National Human Rights Commission members | Other members | ||
| 9 members | 17 members, 1 seat vacant | ||
The council of the Yuan, chaired by the Yuan President, is divided into a number of committees to exercise the Yuan's supervision power. No member of the Control Yuan can hold another public office or profession while serving in the branch (according to Article 103 of the constitution), and members must be able to perform absent of partisan control or influence. Members can vote in no more than three committees and can join additional committees as non-voting members. Each committee can have up to 14 members and usually elects a convenor amongst themselves to chair committee meetings.
The following responsibilities were also assigned by various acts.
See main article: National Human Rights Commission (Taiwan).
The National Human Rights Committee is a ten-member committee under the Control Yuan which investigates human rights abuses, proposes human rights laws, compiles an annual report and promotes human rights education. The President of the Control Yuan must be a member of the committee. The committee was established by the National Human Rights Committee Organic Law on 10 December 2019.
An Administrative Appeal Committee, operated under the aegis of the Control Yuan but consisting of both members and non-members of the Control Yuan, considers administrative appeals which are inappropriate to both the Control Yuan proper and the Ministry of Audit.
The National Audit Office is headed by an auditor-general who is nominated by the President of the Republic and appointed with consent of Legislative Yuan (parliament), exercises the Control Yuan's power of audit. It consists of five departments:
In addition, most local governments have established the Audit Divisions/Offices, these serve as the subordinate agencies of the National Audit Office. Currently, 21 local governments of the 22 administrative divisions of Taiwan have Audit Divisions/Offices (except Lienchiang County).
The Control Yuan is responsible to investigate possible violations on laws and regulations of public servants and raise impeachments if needed. Investigations are initiated by at least two members, and investigation committees must consist of at least nine members of the Control Yuan. The impeachment cases would be determined by a majority vote by members of investigation committee. Successful impeachment cases will then be forwarded to the Disciplinary Court (Chinese: 懲戒法院) under the Judicial Yuan for adjudication. However, the impeachment of the President or Vice President shall be initiated by Legislative Yuan (parliament) and adjudicate by the Constitutional Court under the Judicial Yuan. Details regarding impeachment proceedings are stipulated in the Enforcement Rules of the Control Act.[10]
See also: Censorate.
The concept of Control Yuan was introduced by Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. The theory proposed a separation of powers into five branches . Sun Yat-sen demonstrated the benefit of separating the supervision and auditing power from the legislature by the designation of the state organs of the Imperial China. He quotes the long tradition of supervision used in past dynasties, ranging from the Censor (Chinese: 御史) established by the Qin (Chinese: 秦) and Han (Chinese: 漢) dynasties to the tái (Chinese: 臺) and jiàn (Chinese: 諫) offices established under the Sui (Chinese: 隋) and Tang (Chinese: 唐) dynasties (tai were selected to supervise civil officials and military officers, while jian were selected to counsel the emperor on supervisory matters) to the Board of Public Censors (Chinese: 都察院) selected under the Ming (Chinese: 明) and Qing (Chinese: 清) dynasties. Most of these offices also operated local and provincial branches to supervise local governments. Under the Qing dynasty, the Board of Public Censors consisted of forty or fifty members, and two presidents, one of Manchu ancestry and the other of Han Chinese ancestry.[17] [18] They were, in theory, allowed to send one censor to participate in the meetings of all government boards. The Board's powers were minimized by the time of political flux which preceded the end of the Empire.
However, the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China has many influences from the resolutions of the Political Consultative Assembly held between the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) and the Chinese Communist Party. Carsun Chang, the major author of the Constitution draft in the Political Consultative Assembly, considered the fact that the supervision and auditing power is traditionally held by the legislature, and also the proposal of federalism from the Communist Party in the drafting process. He designed the Control Yuan to be a chamber of parliament that is indirectly elected by the provincial legislatures of China. The Control Yuan has some similarities to the United States Senate, which allocated a similar number of seats to each province of China and holds the power to confirm many important public positions in the Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan appointed by the President of the Republic.[19]
In the 1947 constitution, the Control Yuan, together with National Assembly and Legislative Yuan, thus formed chambers of a tricameral parliament according to the Judicial Yuan's interpretation number 76 of the Constitution in 1957.[20] The Control Yuan was given the power to request documents from other government agencies and investigate them for violations of law or neglect as under Sun Yat-sen's ideology. The auditor-general was considered elected by the Control Yuan, who shall be nominated by the President of the Republic with consent of the Legislative Yuan, who was responsible for submitting reports on government budgets.[21] Finally, the Control Yuan had confirmation power for the President, Vice President and members of the Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan.[22] [23]
In the early republican era, the Beiyang government was in favor of the traditional three-branch form of separation of powers. However, a weak culture of republicanism and, later, the Warlord Era suppressed the implementation of this constitutional ideology.
After a successful Northern Expedition campaign, the Kuomintang secured its leadership in China and started to build the Nationalist government according to Sun Yat-sen's ideology. Five branches (Yuans) were created under the Kuomintang's party-state administration. During this time, the Auditing Yuan was established in February 1928, but in February 1931, the Control Yuan was established and the Auditing Yuan was downgraded to the current ministry-level National Audit Office within the Control Yuan.[24] The creation of Control Yuan on 16 February 1931 was the last establishment of the five-Yuans.[25]
However, the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China, although retaining the architecture of the five-branch government, changed the Control Yuan to be a parliament chamber. Under the constitution, members of the Yuan (by now senators de facto) were elected from regional legislatures: 5 from each province, 2 from each direct-administered municipality, 8 from Mongolia (by 1948 only the Inner Mongolian provinces were represented), 8 from Tibet, and 8 from the overseas Chinese communities. As originally envisioned both the President and Vice President of the Control Yuan were to be elected by and from the members like the speaker of many other parliamentary bodies worldwide. Following the promulgation of the Constitution, the 178 first Control Yuan senators elected by the regional legislatures convened in Nanking on June 4, 1948, for the opening of their chamber. The first Control Yuan then confirmed the leaders and members of the first Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan. The transition from one-party state Nationalist government to constitutional government was hence completed.
However, a year later, the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan in December 1949. Taiwan had been under Japanese rule before August 15, 1945; as a result of World War II, the Republic of China Armed Forces occupied Taiwan on behalf of the Allies. The government established Taiwan Province to mark its annexation of Taiwan. There were 104 members who retreated to Taiwan with the government, including 5 senators from Taiwan. The Control Yuan occupied the former governmental building of Taihoku Prefecture in the Japanese era. The term of the retreated senators was extended indefinitely until "re-election is possible in their original electoral district." During this era, the first Control Yuan members continued to conduct sessions in Taipei until they were ordered to retire by the Judicial Yuan (Constitutional Court) in 1991.
With the reduction of members due to age, elections were held from 1969 to 1986 to elect new senators to the Yuan from Taiwan, and the cities of Taipei and Kaoshung were soon represented.
Until 1993, the Control Yuan's legislative work was limited to helping to audit the national budget, which would then be presented to the Legislative Yuan. The other actions the then chamber took were its impeachment, confirmation and censure powers, applied whenever necessary.
Democratization took place in Taiwan starting late 1980s; the movement resulted in a series of constitutional amendment known as the Additional Articles of the Constitution. On May 27, 1992, the second amendment removed the Control Yuan from parliament chambers and its members removed from their legislative duties. Decision process of leaders and members of the Control Yuan follows a similar pattern of Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan. These officials were nominated by the President of the Republic and confirmation by the National Assembly. The National Assembly was another parliament chamber that can hold the confirmation process to maintain the separation of powers.[26]
On 18 July 1997, by the 4th constitutional amendment, the procedure to impeach the President and Vice President of the Republic was transferred out from the Control Yuan. In this amendment, presidential impeachment shall be initiated by Legislative Yuan and voted by the National Assembly.[27] However, the later political developments in Taiwan has inclined to simplify the parliament to one chamber. The Legislative Yuan was the surviving chamber and the National Assembly was then abolished.[28] Since 25 April 2000, confirmation of leaders and members of the Control Yuan are transferred to Legislative Yuan, together with the confirmation of similar officials of Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan.[29]
At the end of 2004, President Chen Shui-bian sent a list of nominees to positions in the Control Yuan to the Legislative Yuan for approval. The coalition of Kuomintang and People First Party, which then held a majority in the Legislative Yuan, refused to ratify President Chen's nominees and demanded that he submit a new list. The political deadlock that resulted stopped the Control Yuan from functioning from February 2005 to July 2008. The situation resolved after Kuomintang's candidate Ma Ying-jeou was elected as the President in 2008 Taiwanese presidential election and Kuomintang won the supermajority of Legislative Yuan seats in 2008 Taiwanese legislative election. Mr. Wang Chien-shien was then appointed to be its president under the Ma Ying-jeou administration.
In 2016, Democratic Progressive Party's candidate Tsai Ing-wen was elected as the President in 2016 Taiwanese presidential election and Democratic Progressive Party won the majority of Legislative Yuan seats in 2016 Taiwanese legislative election. On 10 December 2019, the Legislative Yuan passed the National Human Rights Committee Organic Law (國家人權委員會組織法), which established the National Human Rights Committee under the Control Yuan. Its duties include investigating human rights abuses, proposing human rights laws, compiling an annual report, and educational promotion of human rights, in accordance with the Paris Principles.[30] The committee will consist of 10 members, one of which is the President of the Control Yuan who heads the committee.[31] It launched on August 1, 2020, with former democracy activist Chen Chu as president.[32] Kuomintang member Justin Huang was discussed as a potential vice-president, but he declined the position after receiving criticism from both the KMT for crossing party lines without consultation and the DPP for his role in the construction of the Taitung Miramar Resort while he was county magistrate, for which the county government was censured by the Control Yuan.[33] [34]
The Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the year following the elections after the enactment of the 1947 constitution. As the Kuomintang government continues to claim sovereignty over mainland China, the term limit of the original Members of the Control Yuan was extended until "re-election is possible in their original electoral districts." In response to the increasing democracy movement in Taiwan, limited supplementary elections were held in the Free Area (Taiwan) starting 1969. Members elected in these supplementary elections served together with those who were elected in 1948. This situation remained until a Constitutional Court (Judicial Yuan) ruling on June 21, 1991, that ordered the retirement of all members with extended terms by the end of 1991.[35]
| Term | Length | Actual length | Election/Appointment | Seats | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=5 | 1st | Initially 6 years, then limit removed by Temporary Provisions | Jun 4, 1948－Jan 31, 1993 (See Note column for detailed terms) | 1947－48 elections | 178 | The only election held in mainland China. 5 seats were elected in Taiwan. 104 members retreated to Taiwan with the government; served until the end of 1991. |
| 1969 supp | 2 | Elected in Taipei, terms equal to the 1948-elected members | ||||
| 1973 1st supp | 15 | Elected in Taiwan with 6-year terms; then extended to 8 years | ||||
| 1980 2nd supp | 32 | Elected in Taiwan with 6-year terms | ||||
| 1987 3rd supp | 32 | Elected in Taiwan with 6-year terms; served until Jan 31, 1993 | ||||
| 2nd | 6 years | Feb 1, 1993－Jan 31, 1999 | Presidential nomination with National Assembly confirmation | 29 | Changed to a non-parliamentary institution; elections stopped | |
| 3rd | Feb 1, 1999－Jan 31, 2005 | |||||
| 4th | Aug 1, 2008－Jul 31, 2014 | Presidential nomination with Legislative Yuan confirmation | Vacancy due to Legislative Yuan's refusal to initiate the confirmation process | |||
| 5th | Aug 1, 2014－Jul 31, 2020 | |||||
| 6th | Aug 1, 2020－Jul 31, 2026 | Incumbent |
Timeline of Control Yuan elections and terms
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyyPeriod = from:01/01/1948 till:01/01/2030TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalLegend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
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ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gridmajor unit:year increment:5 start:01/01/1950ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gridminor unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1948
BarData = bar:1st text:1st bar:sp0 text:1st, supp bar:sp1 text:1st, 1st supp bar:sp2 text:1st, 2nd supp bar:sp3 text:1st, 3rd supp bar:2nd text:2nd bar:3rd text:3rd bar:4th text:4th bar:5th text:5th bar:6th text:6th
PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:till fontsize:m bar:1st from: 06/04/1948 till: 12/31/1991 color:chn text:178 seats (1948) bar:sp0 from: 02/01/1970 till: 12/31/1991 color:spp text:2 seats bar:sp1 from: 02/01/1973 till: 01/31/1981 color:spp text:15 seats bar:sp2 from: 02/01/1981 till: 01/31/1987 color:spp text:32 seats bar:sp3 from: 02/01/1987 till: 01/31/1993 color:spp text:32 seats bar:2nd from: 02/01/1993 till: 01/31/1999 color:twn text:29 seats bar:3rd from: 02/01/1999 till: 01/31/2005 color:twn text:29 seats bar:4th from: 08/01/2008 till: 07/31/2014 color:twn text:29 seats bar:5th from: 08/01/2014 till: 07/31/2020 color:twn text:29 seats bar:6th from: 08/01/2020 till: 07/31/2026 color:twn text:29 seats
See main article: List of Presidents of the Control Yuan and List of Vice Presidents of the Control Yuan.
The President and Vice President of the Control Yuan in the Nationalist government era were appointed by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party).
The Control Yuan was a chamber of parliament under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China. The President and Vice President of the Control Yuan were elected by and from the members like the speaker of many other parliamentary bodies.
| Order | Date | President | Vice President | Note | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jun 9, 1948–Jan 6, 1954 | Yu Yu-jen | Chinese: [[:zh:于右任|于右任]] | Liu Che | Chinese: [[:zh:劉哲 (1880年)|劉哲]] | Inaugurated in Nanking and moved to Taipei |
| Jan 7, 1954–Aug 17, 1954 | Vice President Liu Che died in office | |||||
| Aug 18, 1954–Jul 11, 1957 | Liang Shang-tung | Chinese: [[:zh:梁上棟|梁上棟]] | ||||
| Jul 12, 1957–Apr 11, 1958 | Vice President Liang Shang-tung died in office | |||||
| Apr 12, 1958–Nov 9, 1964 | Li Shih-tsung | Chinese: [[:zh:李嗣璁|李嗣璁]] | ||||
| Nov 10, 1964–Aug 16, 1965 | President Yu Yu-jen died in office | |||||
| 2 | Aug 17, 1965–May 14, 1972 | Li Shih-tsung | Chinese: [[:zh:李嗣璁|李嗣璁]] | Chang Wei-han | Chinese: [[:zh:張維翰|張維翰]] | |
| May 15, 1972–Mar 18, 1973 | President Li Shih-tsung died in office | |||||
| 3 | Mar 19, 1973–Mar 23, 1981 | Yu Chun-hsien | Chinese: [[:zh:余俊賢|余俊賢]] | Chou Pai-lien | Chinese: [[:zh:周百鍊|周百鍊]] | |
| Mar 24, 1981–Mar 11, 1987 | Huang Tzuen-chiou | Chinese: [[:zh:黃尊秋|黃尊秋]] | ||||
| 4 | Mar 12, 1987–Dec 29, 1991 | Huang Tzuen-chiou | Chinese: [[:zh:黃尊秋|黃尊秋]] | Ma Kung-chun | Chinese: [[:zh:馬空群|馬空群]] | |
| Dec 30, 1991–Feb 19, 1992 | Vice President Ma Kung-chun retired at end of 1991 | |||||
| Feb 20, 1992–Jan 31, 1993 | Lin Rong-san | Chinese: [[:zh:林榮三|林榮三]] | ||||
Since the 1992 ratification of the constitutional amendment, the Control Yuan was reorganized from a chamber of parliament to an independent agency that still performs most of its designated constitutional powers. Since the 4th term, the President and Vice President of the Control Yuan, together with other members, were nominated by the President of the Republic and approved by the Legislative Yuan (the now-unicameral parliament of Taiwan).
| Term | Date | President | Vice President | Note | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | Feb 1, 1993–Sep 22, 1995 | Chen Li-an | Chinese: [[:zh:陳履安|陳履安]] | Cheng Shuei-chih | Chinese: [[:zh:鄭水枝|鄭水枝]] | ||
| Sep 23, 1995–Aug 31, 1996 | President Chen Li-an resigned to run for 1996 Taiwanese presidential election | ||||||
| Sep 1, 1996–Jan 31, 1999 | Wang Tso-yung | Chinese: [[:zh:王作榮|王作榮]] | |||||
| 3rd | Feb 1, 1999–Jan 31, 2005 | Fredrick Chien | Chinese: [[:zh:錢復|錢復]] | Cheng Meng-lin | Chinese: [[:zh:陳孟鈴|陳孟鈴]] | ||
| Feb 1, 2005–Jul 31, 2008 | colspan=2 | colspan=2 | Vacant due to Executive-Legislative conflict | ||||
| 4th | Aug 1, 2008–Jul 31, 2014 | Wang Chien-shien | Chinese: [[:zh:王建煊|王建煊]] | Chen Jinn-lih | Chinese: 陳進利 | ||
| 5th | Aug 1, 2014–Jul 31, 2020 | Chang Po-ya | Chinese: [[:zh:張博雅|張博雅]] | Sun Ta-chuan | Chinese: [[:zh:孫大川|孫大川]] | ||
| 6th | Aug 1, 2020–present | Chen Chu | Chinese: [[:zh:陳菊|陳菊]] | Lee Hung-chun | Chinese: [[:zh:李鴻鈞|李鴻鈞]] | Vice presidency vacant from Aug 1, 2020 to May 30, 2022 | |
| Country | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| National Supervisory Commission (Chinese: 国家监察委员会) | ||
| European Court of Auditors | ||
| State Comptroller (Hebrew: מבקר המדינה, Arabic: مراقب الدولة) | ||
| Board of Audit (Japanese: 会計検査院) | ||
| Office of the Ombudsman and Commission on Audit | ||
| (ROK) | Board of Audit and Inspection (Korean: 감사원、監査院) | |
| National Audit Office | ||
| Government Accountability Office |