National Assembly (Republic of China)
The National Assembly was the authoritative legislative body of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan after 1949. It was established under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China as a constitutional convention and electoral college to elect the President and Vice President.
The first National Assembly was elected in November 1947 and met in Nanking in March 1948. However, in the next year, the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China lost mainland China in the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan. The National Assembly resumed its meeting in Taipei in 1954. In the 1990s, its parliamentary powers were gradually transferred to the Legislative Yuan and direct democracy exercised by the Taiwanese people before constitutional amendments made it a dormant body in 2000 and fully defunct in 2005.
History
Early Republican period
Calls for a National Assembly were part of the platform of the revolutionaries who ultimately overthrew the Qing dynasty. In response, the Qing dynasty formed the first assembly in 1910, but it was virtually powerless and intended only as an advisory body. In the early Republican Era, the bicameral National Assembly was established by the Beiyang government. The design referred the structure of the United States Congress as Senate and House of Representative. However, the Warlord Era with the interference of military power toward the constitution suppressed the authority and the reputation of the National Assembly.1947 Constitution
In 1946, the Constituent Assembly promulgated a new constitution and the first National Assembly met in 1948 in Nanjing, the Chinese capital. Shortly afterwards in 1949, mainland China fell to the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, and the National Assembly was transplanted to Taipei. Apart from the KMT, the only legal parties were the Democratic Socialist Party and the Youth Party.Under the constitution, the main duty of the National Assembly was to elect the President and Vice President for terms of six years. It also had the right to recall the President and Vice President if they failed to fulfill their political responsibilities. According to "National Assembly Duties Act," the National Assembly could amend the constitution with a two-thirds majority, with at least three-quarters membership present. It could also change territorial boundaries. After the KMT moved to Taiwan, the Assembly's right to legislate was put into moratorium until at least half of all counties in the nation were again able to elect representatives via their County Representatives' Assemblies. The responsibilities of the deputies of the Assembly, as well as of the Assembly as a whole, were derived from the directions of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
The first National Assembly was to have been elected for a period of only six years. However, according to the Kuomintang leadership, the fall of the Mainland made it impossible to hold new elections there, as all Mainland provinces were undergoing "Communist rebellion". As a result, the Judicial Yuan decided that the original members of the National Assembly of Communist controlled constituencies must continue to hold office until elections could be held. National Assembly elections were still held to replace delegates of territories under ROC control.
Constitutional reforms in the 1990s
As a result of this decision, the same National Assembly, elected in 1947, remained for 43 years until 1991, when as part of a constitutional ruling a Second National Assembly was elected. There was strong objection to the Assembly, which was derisively called the "ten-thousand-year Congress" by critics.Shortly after passing constitutional reforms in 1991, the National Assembly held direct elections in December. Following a 1994 constitutional amendment, the Assembly essentially became a permanent constituent assembly, as the Assembly's other major role, to elect the President and Vice President of the Republic of China, was abolished. Direct elections for the president, vice president, and Assembly were held simultaneously in March 1996. Most of its other former functions, such as hearing the president's State of the Nation Address and approving the president's nominations of the grand justices and the heads of the Examination and Control Yuans, are now the functions of the Legislative Yuan.
In 1999, the Assembly passed constitutional amendments to extend terms of the Assembly and Legislative Yuan, which were strongly criticized by the public. The People First Party was founded shortly after the 2000 presidential election. The two larger parties, the Kuomintang and Democratic Progressive Party, wished to bar the People First Party from the National Assembly. As a result, the 2000 National Assembly elections were canceled, and delegates were to be selected ad hoc on the basis of proportional representation via special election within six months of the Legislative Yuan proposing constitutional amendments, calling for the impeachment of the president or vice president, or declaring a vote on changes to national borders. However, no such situation arose from 2000 to 2004, and the National Assembly never met during this period.
Defunct
On 23 August 2004, the Legislative Yuan proposed a series of amendments that included dissolution of the National Assembly. The purpose of this proposal is to transfer power to ratify constitutional amendments and territorial amendments from the National Assembly to the People. Under the amendments, further proposed amendments are to be approved by three-fourths of the present members in the Legislative Yuan, with at least three-fourths of all members present. It would then be promulgated for a period of 180 days and then submitted to a referendum, in which a simple majority of all eligible voters shall be sufficient to ratify the amendments. A Democratic Progressive Party proposal authorizing citizens initiative rights to propose constitutional amendments was withdrawn after it became clear that such a proposal would not pass the Legislative Yuan. Opponents of such constitutional reforms argued that by eliminating the 3/4 legislative vote requirement, a relatively small number of voters could force a referendum on Taiwan independence which would trigger a crisis with the People's Republic of China. By contrast, keeping the 3/4 legislative vote requirement would mean that any constitutional amendment would require a consensus among both the pan-green coalition and pan-blue coalition to be considered. The requirement that a majority of all voters approve the amendment allows for a party to block an amendment by boycotting the vote as was done with the referendums voted on the March 2004 ROC Presidential elections.Under the Constitution at the time, the National Assembly must then be elected to consider these amendments. Such consideration and eventual ratification of the constitutional amendments was originally considered to be a formality, but a number of unexpected complications occurred in 2005. The first was the poor showing of the People First Party in the 2004 Legislative Yuan election. The PFP was widely expected to merge with the KMT, but PFP Chairman James Soong became disenchanted by the idea. The second was the reluctance of the Taiwan Solidarity Union to pass the amendments. These amendments were seen by some Taiwan independence supporters as a prelude to a later declaration of independence, but the results of the 2004 election made this very unlikely. Faced with this outcome, the TSU became very reluctant to support a reform that would make elections by small parties, such as itself harder.
One final unexpected outcome occurred which gave the National Assembly elections on 14 May 2005 more significance than had been intended. The National Assembly election was lined up immediately after trips to mainland China by KMT Chairman Lien Chan and PFP Chairman James Soong. This had the effect of turning the May 14 elections into an opinion poll on relations with mainland China which was undesired by the Democratic Progressive Party, though the DPP subsequently gained a plurality in the elections.
On 7 June 2005, the 300 delegates voted the constitutional amendments into effect, and so dissolute the National Assembly until the "unification of the country" as stated in the preamble.
Functions
The National Assembly held the most important constitutional powers within the national organs under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China. All of its powers were transferred to the Legislative Yuan and direct democracy exercised by the Taiwanese people after a series of constitutional amendments in the 1990s and early 2000s.The series of constitutional amendments coined the Additional Articles of the Constitution as the current basic law of Taiwan. During the evolution of the Additional Articles, the National Assembly also held the power to confirm some important governmental officers to maintain the separation of powers during the government reorganization.
| Office | Original Constitution | Additional Articles | Current implementation |
| Judicial Yuan | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Control Yuan | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the National Assembly | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Legislative Yuan |
| Examination Yuan | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Control Yuan | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the National Assembly | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Legislative Yuan |
| Control Yuan | Members are elected by provincial legislators Leaders are elected by and from the members | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the National Assembly | Leaders and members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Legislative Yuan |
National Assembly sessions
Leaders of the National Assembly
Secretary-general of the National Assembly (1947–2005)
When the Assembly is not in session, the secretary-general is the de facto highest-ranking official, in charge of the overall affairs of the Assembly and supervising its staff.Presidium of the National Assembly (1948–1996)
The 1st and 2nd National Assemblies elected a presidium as the leader of the body.Speaker of the National Assembly (1996–2000)
The 3rd National Assembly elected a speaker and a deputy speaker to lead the assembly.- Speaker Su Nan-cheng resigned for forwarding a term-extension amendment in the National Assembly, which was judged unconstitutional by the Judicial Yuan.
Presidium of the National Assembly (2005)