Sat, Apr 11, 2026 page8

• KMT a threat to Taiwan’s institutions

  • By Steve Ho 何不孝
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  By declaring that it would not be recommending candidates and effectively blocking appointments to the Control Yuan, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is attacking Taiwan’s institutions.

  At first glance, this appears to be an expression of dissatisfaction with the Control Yuan’s long-standing shortcomings. In practice, it is the leveraging of institutional disputes to push the supervisory authority toward a breaking point.

  The nomination process for a new term of Control Yuan members is already underway, with the six-year terms of current members set to expire on July 31. Taking this approach now is not an attempt at reform but a move that could cripple the constitutional body, with the resulting dysfunction only to be later blamed on the institution itself. Whether the Control Yuan should be reformed is, of course, open to debate. From its nomination mechanisms and allocation of powers to its controversies over the past few years, there is plenty of room for review.

  If genuine reform is the goal, the proper course would be constitutional amendment, legal revision and the reorganization of its powers. It should not involve taking the existing constitutional framework, blocking the appointment of personnel and framing the resulting paralysis as a necessary, principled stance.

  One might openly advocate for the body’s abolition or indeed oppose specific nominees through the Legislative Yuan’s confirmation powers, but one cannot reframe neglect as reform or make procedural obstruction appear to be politically principled.

  Constitutional Interpretation No. 632 makes it clear that the President should make timely nominations and the Legislative Yuan should likewise exercise its confirmation powers to ensure the normal functioning of the Control Yuan. In other words, individual nominees might be rejected, but the overall process must not be brought to a halt; decisions can be made within the system, but one cannot first weaken the system and then criticize it for being ineffective. To do so would not be oversight but political maneuvering under the guise of constitutional responsibility.

  It should also be noted that the Control Yuan is not entirely without practical function. During its current sixth and final term, members issued 481 corrective measures, impeached 205 individuals and received 82,182 public petitions. This might not fully vindicate the institution but it does demonstrate that the Control Yuan is not an entirely useless or symbolic body.

  A responsible opposition party should lay its reform proposals on the table and clearly explain how to adjust supervisory powers, redistribute responsibilities and manage the transition.

  The KMT’s approach of blocking personnel to damage the institution is, ultimately, not about reforming the Control Yuan but about turning supervisory power into a political tool to the detriment of the nation’s constitutional order.

  Steve Ho is a retired engineer.

  Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
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