ANALYSIS: Illness and travel could lead to constitutional crisis

It would be a different story, however, if accidents occurred involving the president, vice president and premier at the same time.

“The president and vice president would be safer if they were apart,” he said. “Now they are half a world apart, I think they are pretty safe.”

Huang, however, urged the legislature to amend the Act Governing the Legislature’s Power so lawmakers could exercise their constitutional power to elect a new vice president.

“Legislation is an act of political will,” Huang said. “If the administration wants it, legislation is just a technical problem for the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT], which enjoys a legislative majority.”