NSC continues to cast long shadow

According to the NSC Organizational Law which took effect in 1994, the National Security Council (NSC, 國家|w?thorn>會?) is an advisory body that reports directly to the president on matters relating to national security.

Unfortunately, that all-encompassing catch phrase -- national security -- is still vague enough to raise concern among many in Taiwan who say it is a throwback to the days of martial law, when such agencies operated outside the bounds of normal administrative procedure.

As a result, the NSC's "legalization" has failed to dispel doubts over its real role within the government's policy-making apparatus, analysts and legislators say.

Much of the controversy surrounding the NSC has to date been focused on whether the council has indeed restricted itself to providing advice to the president or whether it has been superseding the authority of both the executive and legislative branches of government to implement the president's policies.

Its role and status has always been murky, of course, since the council was established by the late Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣?階?/CHINESE>) in the mid-1960s.

As military analyst Su Chin-chiang (蘇進強) explained, the council began as a powerful organ under the authority of Chiang, operating mostly in secret as the overall agency responsible for domestic intelligence affairs.

"Before the 1990s, it also developed certain major policies for the president, handing them down to the Executive Yuan for enforcement," Su said.

However, the council began to see its power wane under the Generalissimo's son, who ascended the presidency in 1978, three years after his father's death.

"The NSC started losing its influence around the time General Wego Chiang (蔣緯國) became its secretary-general," Su said. "President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) rarely, if ever, asked for an informal meeting with the members of the council.

"The purpose behind the move was obviously to reduce the role and function of the NSC."

This process of marginalization apparently continued until President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) took over following Chiang's death in 1988.

And yet, despite the enormous democratic changes wrought by Lee since then, the NSC has actually seen its power increase again, critics say.

National Assembly deputy Yang Ming-hua (楊敏華) is among the most outspoken opponents of the NSC's existence.

He claims the NSC cannot be justified from a legal perspective since its operation is virtually impervious to monitoring by lawmaking bodies.

And besides, he says, the inclusion of the premier in a meeting of the council creates a natural conflict of interest with his constitutionally mandated role as the nation's chief executive.

How, for instance, can he sit in on an NSC meeting on an equal footing with his Cabinet members, then resume his normal duties as the superior of those same ministers once the meeting is concluded?

In the most recent issue of the ROC yearbook published by the Government Information Office, the NSC is described as "an advisory body to the president," and its main functions are "to determine the ROC's national security polices and to assist in planning the ROC's security strategy."

Minister of National Defense Tang Fei (--?/CHINESE>), speaking recently to the legislature's defense committee, tried to dispel concerns about the vagueness of the definition.