Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have proposed abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan — two of the nation’s five branches of government.
The Control Yuan is the nation’s highest ombudsman, while the Examination Yuan is in charge of national exams for civil servants.
The motion, led by DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), has been signed by 30 DPP lawmakers.
Photo courtesy of the Examination Yuan
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) and Taiwan People’s Party caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) have vowed to launch efforts to abolish the Control Yuan, as part of a constitutional reform process, Chen said on Thursday last week.
“We agree with this effort, and have proposed abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan, getting ahead of the KMT on this work,” she said. “We now ask Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) to relaunch the constitutional reform committee in the Legislative Yuan, to undertake this work.”
The DPP and many of its supporters have long backed the idea of Taiwan becoming a “normal” country, in line with most democratic nations, which separate power between three bodies: the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, Chen said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
“However, the KMT and TPP are only focused on the Control Yuan, which would result in a weird ... political framework,” she said.
Chen said that for many years, she and other DPP legislators have asked for constitutional reform to abolish the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan, which would help resolve the problem of unclarified and overlapping power between the five branches.
The Examination Yuan’s responsibilities of administering examinations for government agencies and overseeing the civil servant system should fall under the Executive Yuan, while its supervision role could fall under the Legislative Yuan, she said.
Separately, at a news conference in Taipei, KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) suggested steps that could be taken “to truly do away with the Control Yuan.”
The legislature should reject nomination of the Control Yuan members, he said, adding the issue should also be put to a referendum, held alongside the local elections in 2026 or presidential and legislative election in 2028.
There should also be public discussions on ways to approach the issues, he added.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS