As I have said, in the Constitution adopted by the National Assembly in 1946, there are provisions characteristic of the cabinet government. For example, under the Constitution, the president of the Executive Yuan (premier) is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Legislative Yuan. This means that the premier must be the leader of the majority party in the legislature, or one who at least receives the support of the majority party (as an independent).
The vice president of the Executive Yuan, and ministers with or without portfolio, are appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the premier, thus indicating joint responsibility. The premier must countersign presidential decrees also. The Executive Yuan is responsible to the Legislative Yuan, and the premier must resign if he cannot carry out a resolution of the Legislative Yuan which has been reconsidered over his objection which the President has approved. This makes the cabinet directly responsible to the legislature. However, the Legislative Yuan cannot pass a non-confidence vote and force the Executive Yuan to resign, and the Executive Yuan is not invested with power to dissolve the Legislative Yuan.
On the other hand, two features of the presidential system of government are discernible: One is that the Executive Yuan, with the approval of the President, may send a bill back to the Legislative Yuan for reconsideration. Another is that members of the Legislative Yuan may not hold concurrent jobs in the government. Neither of these features would be possible under a pure cabinet type of government.
So the Chinese governmental system occupies a unique position in the political system of the world. It is the product of Dr. Sun's conception of a five-power constitution, and stands somewhere between the cabinet system and the presidential system of government.
Under the Chinese system, the central government is composed of the National Assembly, elected once in six years, the Presidency and Vice-Presidency, and the five Yuan: Executive, Legislative, Judicial, Examination and Control.
Since the Chinese Government derives its power from the National Assembly, let us discuss that first.
I. National Assembly
In theory, the National Assembly exercises on behalf of the people the four major political rights: election, recall, initiative and referendum. It elects the President and the Vice-President. It may recall the President or Vice-President and amend the Constitution. It cannot at present exercise the power of initiative and referendum except in the case of Constitutional amendments submitted by the Legislative Yuan by way of referendum.
The functions of the National Assembly in some ways are similar to the American electoral college, because the President and the Vice-President are elected by it. But in many other ways it has powers similar to those of a parliament, particularly in such acts as voting Constitutional amendments and altering existing national boundaries. Recently, the Council of Grand Justices ruled, in interpreting the Constitution, that the National Assembly together with the Legislative and Control Yuan, are equivalent to the parliament of democratic countries.
The (First) National Assembly has a total of 3,045 delegates. They are elected directly by the people on the basis of both regional and occupational representation, and some members are elected from women's organizations. Out of these 3,045 delegates, 1,534 members are now in Taiwan. The National Assembly meets with a quorum of over 1,016 delegates. (But it needs 2,031 delegates for Constitutional amendments, and 1,523 delegates for election of the President). They are elected once every six years, their term of office terminating on the day on which the next National Assembly convenes. Regular sessions are held 90 days prior to the date of expiration of each presidential term. Resolutions are adopted by a simple majority. A presidium of 85 is elected from among delegates to serve as a steering committee. A member of the presidium presides over the plenary session of the National Assembly.
II. President And Vice-President
The President is elected by the National Assembly for a term of six years, and may be re-elected for a second term. He is elected from among those candidates proposed by more than 100 delegates of the National Assembly. The Vice-President is elected under the same rules and has the same term of office as the President. The position of the Vice-president is somewhat similar to the corresponding post under the American Constitution. He succeeds to the presidency "in the event of the President's office becoming vacant" until the expiration of the original term and exercises the functions of the presidency "in case the President should, owing to any cause, become incapacitated."
The President, as head of the state, represents the country in foreign relations. All acts of the state are conducted in his name, such as commanding the land, sea and air forces, promulgating laws, issuing mandates, concluding treaties, declaring war and making peace, declaring martial law, granting amnesty, appointing and removing civil and military officers, and conferring honors and decorations.
Aside from exercising the above-mentioned functions, which are similar to those exercised by the heads of state in countries where the system of cabinet government prevails, the President under the Chinese Constitution also exercises the following four functions: (1) Convening of the National Assembly; (2) Nominating officials; (3) Issuing emergency orders; and (4) Resolving disputes between yuans.
III. The Five Yuan
I have pointed out that Dr. Sun Yat-sen advocated that, in addition to the usual executive, legislative, and judicial powers, there should exist the powers of examination and supervision or control. The former refers to a system of open competitive examinations for aspirants to public offices, professions, and technical occupations; the latter (Control Yuan) to a system of impeachment, supervision of public functionaries, and auditing.
The five main branches of the Government of the Republic of China are independent of one another. Is the difference between the three-power system and the five-power system quite clear now? The three-power system was the theory of the French political writer, Montesquieu; and the United States of America was the first country which adopted this system immediately after her declaration of independence. In this system, the Executive organization has the duty of selecting and securing personnel for government, and the legislative organization takes care of the work of control or supervision, and impeachment. The judicial branch exercises judicial functions of the government.
The advantage of using the five-power system is that the Examination Yuan prevents the Executive Yuan from filling public posts with incompetent personnel, or choosing personnel by personal favor. Moreover, with the independent Control Yuan exercising function of impeachment, the opposition party in the Legislature will not be able to use impeachment as a political instrument.
IV. Cabinet (Executive Yuan)
The Executive Yuan is the highest administrative organ of our Government., Its function, as I have said, is that of a cabinet in other constitutional democracies.
The President of the Executive Yuan is equivalent to a premier and is nominated and appointed by the President of the Republic with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. He takes over all responsibility, for government administration. His status is like the cabinet chief where a cabinet is the highest administrative organ. He has charge of the general affairs of the entire Yuan and supervision over all its subordinate organs in addition to the following duties:
He shall perform the duties of the President of the Republic in case both the Presidency and Vice Presidency of the Republic fall vacant, or when the President of the Republic has served his term and a successor has not yet been elected, or when the new President and Vice President of the Republic have not assumed office. In other words, the premier is the 3rd, in the line of succession. He shall present administrative policies and administrative reports to the Legislative Yuan and answer questions raised by members of the Legislative Yuan during its sessions.
He may, with the approval of the President, ask the Legislative Yuan to reconsider its resolutions.
He may ask the President to appoint the Vice President of the Executive Yuan, heads of ministries and commissions, and ministers without portfolio. He shall organize an Executive Yuan Council and serve as its chairman.
In short, the President of the Executive Yuan shoulders the main administrative responsibility of the nation.
Organizations Of Executive Yuan
There are five categories of subordinate organizations under the Executive Yuan: (1) Policy-making organization (Executive Yuan Council), (2) Secretariat, (3) Executive organizations (ministries and commissions), (4) Information organization (Government Information Office), and (5) Comptroller-General's Office.
The Secretariat will keep records of conferences, receive and distribute documents, prepare and file documents. Under the Executive Yuan, there will be a secretary-general, a deputy secretary-general, and 16-20 secretaries, divided into different sections.
Ministries and Commissions: The Executive Yuan has eight ministries and two commissions. The former are the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Finance, Education, Justice, Economic Affairs, and Communications. The latter are the Mongolian and Tibetan, and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission. Each Ministry has a minister, and each commission a chairman, all of whom are members of the Executive Yuan to be nominated by the Premier and appointed by the President of the Republic. The appointment of ministers without portfolio follows the same pattern, although they are not connected with any particular ministry or commission. They are ex officio members of the Executive Yuan Council. Each ministry has a political vice-minister and an administrative vice-minister. Each commission has two vice-chairmen in addition to the chairman. The function of the ministries and commissions are as follows:
(1) The Ministry of Interior handles home administration, including territories, land administration, civil affairs, census, police and public health.
(2) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles international negotiations and matters pertaining to Chinese nationals residing abroad, foreign residents in China, commercial affairs relating to foreigners, treaties and the Chinese diplomatic and consular services.
(3) The Ministry of National Defense handles military affairs, maps out regulations on manpower, financial resources and supplies necessary to the national defense, and runs other matters pertaining to military, and defense.
(4) The Ministry of Finance handles the financial affairs of the nation.
(5) The Ministry of Education handles national academic and administrative affairs, including a bureau of international culture and educational relations.
(6) The Ministry of Justice handles the nation's judicial administrative affairs, including civil and criminal courts, prison administration and security affairs.
(7) The Ministry of Economic Affairs handles the nation's economic administration and economic developments and supervises public enterprises.
(8) The Ministry of Communications controls the nation's railways, highways, tele-communications, post, navigation, aviation, and supervises the state-owned and private communication enterprises.
(9) The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission handles all matters pertaining to the administration of Mongolia and Tibet. Aside from the chairman and vice chairmen, there are 14 members.
(10) The Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission handles overseas Chinese affairs and helps promote overseas Chinese enterprises. Beside the chairman and vice chairmen, there are 19 members now residing in Taiwan. A number of others are living abroad.
Government Information Office: Under the Executive Yuan there is Government Information Office, whose duties are to explain, the national policy, publicize laws and regulations and disseminate information at home and abroad. It also takes care of public relations for the government.
Comptroller-General's Office: The Comptroller-General's Office of the Executive Yuan handles budget, accounting and statistics. Under this office are a budget bureau, and an accounting and a statistics bureau.
According to the organic Law of the Executive Yuan, temporary commissions may be set up to cope with special problems. So, besides the eight ministries and two commissions, there are a few other organizations under the Executive Yuan, the heads of which are not members of the Executive Yuan Council. Among them, I should mention:
CUSA: The Council for United States Aid acts as the counterpart of the Mutual Security Mission to China of the U. S. International Cooperation Administration (ICA-MSM-C) in programming and administering economic aid extended by the United States under the Economic Cooperation Act. The Council also acts as a liaison and coordinating agency between the various Chinese organizations concerned with U.S. aid and the ICA, and assists in planning and presenting full justification for aid requested by these organizations.
It also assumes the responsibility of integrating the U.S. economic aid program into the financial and economic policy of the Chinese Government in consultation with ICA and the Chinese agencies concerned.
Its chairman must be the Premier himself.
The executive officers of the Council are the Secretary-General and the Deputy-General.
FETCC: For the consolidation of the control of foreign exchange and foreign trade under its over-all program, the Executive Yuan established the Foreign Exchange and Trade Control Commission (FETCC). This Commission undertakes to formulate policies and plans concerning foreign exchange and foreign trade, screen applications for foreign exchange, coordinate with U.S. aid, keep in communication with competent authorities in connection with foreign exchange and foreign trade, and deal with other relevant matters pursuant to the instructions from the Executive Yuan.
JCRR: The Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction was established back in the mainland day. It is composed of five commissioners, two appointed by the President of the United States and three by the President of the Republic of China, one of whom is chosen as chairman. JCRR is subject to policy direction from the Executive Yuan on the Chinese side and from the Director of ICA on the United States side.
JCRR provides both technical and financial assistance to Chinese agencies and organizations. It "sparks" self-help where a need is felt. This includes increase of crop and livestock production, improvement of living conditions of rural people to develop the potentiality of rural people for rehabilitation of their own committees, to encourage and develop rural leadership, and to support and strengthen government agencies in their services to agriculture.
VACRS: The Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen is the first veteran retirement program ever set up in China. VACRS helps overaged and disabled veterans in job placement and health rehabilitation. It provides homes for the handicapped and also education, including vocational training. Up to now, eleven cooperative farms have already turned 12,000 acres of virgin land into fertile soil. Scores of workshops have been set up, in addition to job training centers and in training for industry. The largest single project employing "Retsers" (as they are called) is the East-West Cross Island Highway. This spectacularly beautiful road is literally being hewn out of solid rock by thousands of able-bodied veterans across the 10,000-foot Central Mountain Range.
With the assistance of VACRS, many former servicemen are now studying in colleges and universities and technical institutes. Six retired servicemen's homes complete with dispensary, post exchange, workshop and meeting hall accommodate 5,000 who are incapable of manual work. There are hospitals, spread over the island, for TB, leprosy and psychiatric treatment and a general hospital with 600 beds to provide free medical care for those who need it.
V. The Legislative Yuan
The Legislative Yuan is the highest legislative organ of the State, composed of popularly-elected Members to exercise the legislative power on behalf of the people. Members of the Legislative Yuan are elected by universal, equal, direct suffrage, and by single and secret ballot. They are elected by local constituencies in the hsien (county) and cities of the provinces, and districts in Inner Mongolia, Tibet and among all frontier tribes, overseas Chinese and various professions.
The first election took place in 1948, when seven hundred and sixty legislators were elected. Among them, five hundred and five legislators are now living in Taiwan, and attend meetings regularly. Members of the Legislative Yuan shall serve a term of three years and shall be eligible for reelection. The term of the first Legislators was to have expired on May 6, 1951. But in view of the Communist occupation of the mainland and the practical difficulties of holding a new election, the Council of Grand. Justices of the Judicial Yuan ruled in 1954 that during the current period of national emergency, the present Members of the Legislative and Control Yuan should continue to exercise their powers and functions until new members can be duly elected and convened according to law. Incidentally, the membership of the Control Yuan, when the first election was held from December 1947 to April 1949, was 180. Now there are 85 in Taiwan.
The Legislative Yuan has a President and a Vice-President elected by and from among members of the Legislative Yuan. The Legislative Yuan holds two sessions every year. The first session lasts from February to the end of May, and the second from September to the end of December.
The Constitution provides that the Legislative Yuan may set up various committees, which may summon government officials and private individuals for hearings. Two types of committees have been set up:
(1) Standing Committees - to consider bills and resolutions referred to them by the Yuan and petitions presented by the people.
(2) Special Committees - to handle specific matters, such as credentials, maintenance of order, rules, accounts, etc.
The Legislative Yuan exercises legislative power to decide upon statutes and to confirm emergency decrees. It controls the budget. It has power over foreign relations. It discusses and makes decisions on martial law and general amnesty as presented by the president and heads of the various ministries and commissions of the Executive Yuan.
It also has the power to alter governmental policy. It gives consent to the nominations of the Executive Yuan by the president. It has the power of initiation of constitutional amendments. And it has the right to question the Premier and the heads of the various ministries and commissions of the Executive Yuan.
VI. Judicial System
The judicial system of China is based upon the principle of three grades of courts. Within the framework of the Judicial Yuan there are three distinct judicial organs: (1) The Supreme Court, (2) The Administrative Court, and (3) The Committee on the Discipline of Public Functionaries. While the Judicial Yuan is administratively the superior organ to these three tribunals, it may not under any circumstances interfere with the exercise of the judicial power thus relegated. It has the power of interpreting the Constitution as well as laws and ordinances. A Council of Grand Justices is set up exclusively to take charge of matters concerning the interpretation of the Constitution and uniform interpretation of laws and ordinances.
The Supreme Court exercises jurisdiction over the following matters: (1) Appeals against judgments in criminal cases rendered by the high courts or branch high courts of first instance. (2) Appeals against judgments in both civil and criminal cases rendered by the high courts or branch high courts as courts of second instance. (3) Motions for setting aside rulings of high courts or branch high courts. (4) Appeals extraordinary.
The Supreme Court is headed by a President of the "special appointment" rank, who has over-all control of the affairs of the entire court and concurrently serves as the chief of its divisions.
The Administrative Court is a component part of the Judicial Yuan and is charged exclusively with the adjudication of administrative suits. The practice of administrative justice, being a special feature of the European legal system which the Chinese judicature follows, has been intended to serve the purpose of redressing administrative wrongs.
The Committee on the Discipline of Public Functionaries has jurisdiction over all government officials irrespective of position or rank. The Committee is composed of a chairman of the "special appointment" rank, who is the over-all administrator of the organization, and nine to fifteen Members of the "selected appointment" rank, are charged with the adjudication of matters relating to discipline.
Completion Of Local Self-Government
The realization of local self-government was an important part of the political program advocated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. And it was something which the Chinese Government tried its best to carry out in the face of many difficulties on the mainland.
(1) The preparatory work for the realization of local self-government in Taiwan was started as early as the time of retrocession of the island to China at the end of World War II (1945). The first step was the promotion of basic local self-government through the election of heads of the various rural areas, townships, precincts, villages, subprecincts and neighborhoods and the inauguration of the people's representative organs at different levels.
Early in 1950, in order to show its determination to let the people enjoy their political rights, the Government decided to proceed with introducing local self-government in the hsiens and in the municipalities.
The first step was the election of the people's representative bodies such as the county and municipal councils, local councils and the people's representative body on the provincial level, the Provincial Assembly.
(2) Next there were the elections of members of hsien and municipal councils, two of hsien magistrates and municipal mayors, and two of members of the Provisional Provincial Assembly have been held. At present, not only the heads of the various villages, subprecincts, neighborhoods, rural areas and townships and the county magistrates and municipal mayors are elected by the people, but the people's representatives to district and municipal councils and the members of the Provisional Provincial Assembly are elected by the people.
At present, all administrative programs, budgets and statutes and regulations affecting the people's rights and obligations have to be discussed and passed by the Provisional Provincial Assembly or the county and municipal councils, as the case may be, before they can be enforced.
Political Parties
At present, there is one major political party and two small parties functioning in Free China. The majority is the Kuomintang or National Party; the other two are the Young China Party, and the Democratic-Socialist Party.
Kuomintang means the Chinese Nationalist Party, founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in Honolulu in 1894. It was the Kuomintang which overthrew the Manchu Dynasty in 1911, fought the warlords and reunited China in 1927, and led the war against Japan in 1937-45. After Dr. Sun's death, party leadership rested on President Chiang Kai-shek, called Tsungtsai (or Director-General) of the Kuomintang. The Deputy Director-General of the party is Chen Cheng, currently Vice President.
The Young China Party was founded in 1913; the Democratic Socialist Party, in 1946. Both enjoy the same legal status as the Kuomintang, and are represented at cabinet level.
Together, the two parties hold 26 seats in the Legislative Yuan, and 9 in the Control Yuan. There are Young China and Democratic Socialist Party members in the Provincial, county and municipal assemblies. When Vice President Chen Cheng was nominated president of the Executive Yuan in June 1958, he offered the post of a minister without portfolio to each of the two minority parties which they declined.
Some high officials in the Government belong to no political party. They are referred to as Independents. Dr. Hu Shih, president of the Academic Sinica, Minister Yu Ta-wei, the Minister of National Defense, Mr. Wang Yun-wu, deputy president of the executive Yuan or Vice-Premier. They are all non-party government officials.
Taiwanese In Government
Since the recovery of Taiwan from Japanese rule, the island-born people have had the same rights as mainlanders, including the right to take administrative posts in the government. Under the Japanese rule, 55.53 percent of the personnel of the Taiwan Tsung Tu-Fu (The Office of Governor-General) were Taiwanese but mostly in the lower echelons. Now more than 64.19% of personnel of the Taiwan Provincial Government are island-born Chinese. Before retrocession, all important posts were filled by Japanese nationals to the exclusion of native-born Chinese. In 1945, the year of the restoration of Taiwan to China, There was only one native-born Chinese holding a post equivalent to the present "selected appointment" rank among the 84,559 public functionaries under the direct jurisdiction of the Governor-General. That lone post represented 0.9% of all posts of the "selected appointment" rank at that time, yet the Chinese holding it was a university professor, not entrusted with administrative duties.
Among officials holding the equivalent of the present Chinese "recommended appointment" rank there were only 27 native-born Chinese, who represented 1.29% of the total number of officials of that rank. Twelve of these were doctors or teachers; those who actually participated in administrative work numbered not more than 15.
Officials holding the equivalent of the present Chinese "designated appointment" rank included 3,681 native-born Chinese, or 17.61% of the total number of officials of that rank.
Altogether the number of native-born Chinese holding positions from the "designated appointment" rank up totaled 3,733, while the others were employees of the lowest levels.
Moreover, when a Japanese and a native-born Chinese with the same training were appointed to official posts for the first time, the salary of the Japanese was always higher than that of the Chinese by one third. If they were both on a hired basis, the Japanese could rise to the "designated appointment" rank in one or two years or even a few months, while a Chinese was not given promotion until he had served at least eight or nine years. Besides, the Japanese was given extra pay and allowances and provided with living quarters, while the Chinese enjoyed no such privileges. There were also special areas made off-limits to Chinese, such as Yangmingshan.
After the retrocession of Taiwan to China, the Chinese Government was glad to see the native-born people of this island again become Chinese citizens and decided that they should enjoy opportunities of service in the Government on a basis of equality. The policy of discriminating against the native-born Chinese personnel pursued by the Japanese during their occupation of this island was entirely discarded, and new statutes and regulations governing personnel affairs were drawn up in accordance with statutes promulgated by the Government. These statutes and regulations were intended to give the island-born Chinese equal opportunities in obtaining work, equal consideration in official appointments based on their training and qualifications, and enjoyment of equal treatment.
Up to the end of 1956, among the 111,633 public functionaries in the Provincial Government there were 78,636 Taiwanese, or 64.17% of the total. Among these were 240 holding positions of the "selected appointment" or an equivalent rank. In the Central Government, one minister without portfolio in the cabinet, the deputy speaker of the Legislative Yuan, some grand Justices and high officials of the Executive Yuan are Taiwanese.
From what has been said above it can be seen that the Government has really done its best in trying to elevate the political status of the island-born Chinese in Taiwan and to develop their administrative talent.
The national policy of Free China today is anti-Communist-and-resist-Soviet-Russia. Towards this goal, we are concentrating all our efforts in various aspects since the occupation of the mainland by the Chinese Communists. Now, from the encounters in Kinmen and Matsu since last month, it appears that Free China is in no way inferior to the Communists in combat skill, though the enemy is supplied with greater quantities of military equipment.
There are favorable developments also in the internal and international situations in recent years which indicate that our goal of counter-offensive against the mainland is but a matter of time. For example, revolts against Communist control are constantly occurring back in the mainland. From our intelligence reports, we know that universal dissatisfaction and hatred are shown by all the people against the brutality behind the bamboo curtain. Especially, in Tibet, the people are in revolt as you may have read in the papers. The fierce Khambas of Eastern Tibet have risen in large numbers and actually threaten the whole Communist regime in that country.
I firmly believe that before too long the world situation will give us the opportunity to join with the mainland Chinese to overthrow the puppet regime. At such a time, with the technical assistance of the United States, the recovery of mainland should be as easy as shooting down five or six MIG's in the Taiwan Strait.
Thank You.
***Editor's Note: This is the text of a speech delivered by Dr. Sampson C. Shen, Director of the Government Information Office, to the U.S. military personnel of MAAG/Taiwan on Thursday, September 25, 1958.