To ease Taiwan's political storm caused by the halt of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant
According to Article 44, in case of major disputes between two or more Yuans, "the president may call a meeting of the presidents of the Yuans concerned for consultation with a view to reaching a solution."
Thus, under the Constitution, the president is the head of state who stands above government organs. If there is no way (eg, reconsideration of policies, no-confidence vote, or dissolving the legislature) to solve the disputes, the president, with an objective position, can effectively resolve the situation. The disputes mentioned here refer to political, not legal, disputes. All legal disputes, according to Article 78, shall be interpreted and integrated by the Judicial Yuan.
As a consequence, Chen's idea of calling a special meeting to solve legal disputes lacks legitimacy and forcefulness.
I believe we can interpret Chen's action from three perspectives. First, under the much amended Constitution, the president has supreme power and therefore it is hard to view him (or her) as the head of state, standing above the other branches of the government. Especially in this case -- since Chen himself is party to the dispute over the nuclear plant -- it is inappropriate for him to call a special meeting since the opposition parties are trying to stage a recall of him.
Second, according to the Additional Articles, the premier is basically the chief-of-staff or executive of the president. The Legislative and the Examination Yuan and the Council of Grand Justices
Third, as I mentioned above, such a special meeting can only resolve political disputes, not legal ones. According to local media, however, Chen actually invited branch heads to discuss legal issues, including: Is it illegal for the Executive Yuan not to exercise the budget plan passed by the Legislative Yuan? Is the Legislative Yuan restricting the administrative rights by demanding the Executive Yuan exercise the budget plan? Will the Control Yuan impeach government officials for halting the nuclear plant? If Chen really wants to solve legal disputes simply by a private meeting with government heads, he is seriously violating the independence of both the Judicial Yuan and the Control Yuan, and his actions could badly harm the constitutional system.
After the opposition parties decided to try to recall the president, it became an impossibility for Chen to negotiate with all sides and resolve the disputes in his role as the head of state. The special meeting wasn't helpful. To handle the storm over the nuclear plant, I would suggest that all the political parties and politicians should go back to the constitutional fundamentals in order to solve the difficulties by legal means, such as a no-confidence vote against the Cabinet.
Wang Yeh-lih is the chairman of the political science department at Tunghai University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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