Control Yuan


The Control Yuan, one of the five branches of the Government of the Republic of China, is an investigatory agency that monitors the other branches of government. It may be compared to the Court of Auditors of the European Union or the Government Accountability Office of the United States. However, the clearest analogous position is the State Comptroller of Israel, who, like the CY, is a hybrid between a government performance auditor and a political ombudsman. The Control Yuan currently consists of 29 members, nominated by the President of the Republic of China and approved by the Legislative Yuan. Members serve 6 year terms.

History

Pre-republican China

The idea for the Control Yuan was inspired by a long tradition of supervision used in past dynasties, ranging from the Censor established by the Qin and Han dynasties to the tái and jiàn offices established under the Sui and Tang dynasties to the Board of Public Censors selected under the Ming and Qing 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 Chinese ancestry. 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.

Republican China

As a republican phenomenon, the idea of government supervision and audit was adopted by Sun Yat-sen during his involvement with the Tongmenghui as part of five proposed branches of republican government. Following the establishment of the provisional republican government, the traditional three branches were initially put in place. An 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 of Audit within the Control Yuan. As stipulated by the constitution, the Control Yuan would consist of members elected from various regional councils: 5 from each province, 2 from each municipality under direct jurisdiction of the central government, 8 from Mongolia, 8 from Tibet, and 8 from overseas Chinese. These members would elect a President and Vice President. It was given the power to request documents from other government agencies and investigate them for violations of law or neglect. As a result of an investigation, the Control Yuan had the power to propose corrective measures or to impeach government officials; if they found evidence of criminal activity, the case would be turned over to the Judicial Yuan. The Control Yuan was also responsible for nominating an Auditor General, with consent of the Legislative Yuan, who was responsible for submitting reports on government budgets. Finally, the Control Yuan had confirmation power for the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan.
The first formal Control Yuan was elected and convened by the various representative councils in 1948 following the enactment of the 1947 Constitution. Most branch offices of the Control Yuan were closed following the KMT evacuation to Taiwan from the mainland.

Taiwan

On May 27, 1992, the selection process for the Control Yuan was reformed in Article 7 in the 2nd revision of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, with representative council elections being replaced by appointment by the President and confirmation by the National Assembly. On 18 July 1997, during the 4th revision of the Additional Articles, the power to impeach the President or Vice President was transferred from the Control Yuan to the Legislative Yuan by abolishing Article 100 of the Constitution. On 25 April 2000, confirmation power of the President and Vice President of the Control Yuan was transferred from the National Assembly to the Legislative Yuan. Furthermore, the Control Yuan's power to confirm the President and Vice President of the Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan was removed and transferred to the Legislative Yuan, thus terminating the body's confirmation power.
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 Pan-Blue Coalition, 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. Following the election of President Ma of the Pan-Blue Coalition, the Legislative Yuan ratified a new list of members of the Control Yuan and Wang Chien-shien was appointed to be its President.
On 10 December 2019, the Legislative Yuan passed the National Human Rights Committee Organic Law, 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. The committee will consist of 10 members, one of which is the President of the Control Yuan who heads the committee. It was reported that Tsai would nominate former democracy activist Chen Chu as president of the Control Yuan in 2020, and Kuomintang member Justin Huang as vice president. It is not clear how the National Human Rights Committee will interact with the existing Committee on Human Rights Protection.

Powers and responsibilities

The Control Yuan is granted the following three powers through the Constitution.
The Control Yuan is furthermore assigned the following responsibilities by various acts.
Impeachments of presidents and vice presidents are conducted by the Legislative Yuan, and are not included in this list. Most cases are forwarded to the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission in the Judicial Yuan, which determine whether the party or parties are guilty and the punishment.
The structure of the Control Yuan consists of the President, Vice President, a 27-member council and the Ministry of Audit.

Council

The council of the Yuan, chaired by the Yuan President, is divided into a number of committees to fulfill the Yuan's various purposes.

Standing committees

The seven standing committees cover the following :
In addition, Control Yuan members join five special committees:
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.

Organizational affairs committees

No member of the Control Yuan can hold another public office or profession while serving in the branch, 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.

Ministry of Audit

The Ministry of Audit, also known as the National Audit Office and headed by an auditor-general who is nominated by the President of the Republic and appointed with consent of Parliament, exercises the Control Yuan's power of audit. It consists of five departments:
Subordinate agencies are largely local extensions of the Ministry:

Pre-1947

  1. Cai Yuanpei not inauguration
  2. Zhao Daiwen not inauguration
  3. Yu Youren

    Post-1947

  4. Yu Youren
  5. * Li Shih-tsung acting
  6. Li Shih-tsung
  7. * Chang Wei-han acting
  8. Yu Chun-hsien
  9. Huang Tzuen-chiou
  10. Chen Li-an
  11. * Cheng Shuei-chih acting
  12. Wang Tso-yung
  13. Fredrick Chien Foo
  14. *Post vacant
  15. Wang Chien-shien
  16. Chang Po-ya
  17. Chen Chu

    List of Vice Presidents of the Control Yuan

Pre-1947

  1. Chen Guofu
  2. Ding Weifen
  3. Hsu Chung-chih
  4. Liu Shangqing
  5. Huang Shaohong
  6. Liu Zhe

    Post-1947

  7. Liu Zhe
  8. Liang Shang-tung
  9. Lee Hsi-chong
  10. Chang Wei-han
  11. Chou Pai-lian
  12. Huang Tzuen-chiou
  13. Ma Kung-chun
  14. Lin Rong-San
  15. Cheng Shuei-chih
  16. Cheng Meng-lin
  17. Chen Jinn-lih
  18. Sun Ta-chuan
  19. *Post vacant