Taiwan needs a new constitution, as the current one was adopted in Nanjing in 1946, when the Republic of China (ROC) represented all of China, while the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished, legal experts and academics said yesterday during a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Chang Kun-sheng (張錕盛), a law professor and secretary-general of the Taiwan Administrative Law Association, said that it is time to draft a new constitution.
The ROC Constitution was adopted during a National Constituent Assembly meeting in Nanjing shortly after World War II and before the Chinese Civil War had fully erupted, Chang said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Taiwan only had 18 representatives at that assembly, out of 2,050 delegates representing all Chinese provinces and regions, political parties, trades, the elite of society and overseas Chinese groups, he said.
Of the 2,050 delegates, only 1,701 attended the meeting, records from the assembly showed.
“As Taiwan was only apportioned 18 representatives for that meeting, we really have to question this 1946 ROC Constitution, whether it has any legally binding power over the people of Taiwan,” Chang said.
The ROC Constitution has no legitimacy for Taiwanese, Chang said.
However, it is currently accepted, in the hopes that it will be amended through a peaceful constitutional reform process involving legislators and will then be approved through a public referendum, he said.
Yesterday’s public hearing was convened by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱).
Legal experts and academics participated in the hearing, which was also attended by other DPP members and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿).
Most of those attending agreed on recommendations to abolish the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan, lower the age of adulthood to 18, and reduce the threshold for constitutional amendments to a two-thirds legislative majority that would then need to be approved by a public referendum.
Three-quarters of legislators are currently required to vote in favor of a constitutional amendment, before it is approved by a public referendum, he said.
The current threshold is so high that is has had impeded efforts to amend the Constitution over the past two decades, Chung said.
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