The Government of the Republic of China is the national authority whose actual-controlled territory consists of main island of Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other island groups, collectively known as the Taiwan Area or Free Area. A unitary state, the ROC government, under the current constitutional amendments, is run by a de facto semi-presidential system, consists of the presidency and five branches (Yuan; , literally "Government Agency"): the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan, and Control Yuan. The president is the head of state, with the premier as the head of government, currently ruled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since 2016. Since the 2005 amendments of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the Legislative Yuan has been the de facto unicameral parliamentary body of the country.
Originally established in 1912 in Nanjing, the Government of the Republic of China relocated several times before finally moving to Taipei, Taiwan, in 1949 because of its military losses in the Chinese Civil War. Up until the 1990s, the government has historically been dominated by the Kuomintang (KMT) under the one-party state Dang Guo authoritarian regime, before evolving into a multi-party democracy after martial law and the climate of White Terror gradually ended. This government was the internationally recognized official government of China until 1971 by the United Nations and until 1979 by the United States.
Organizational structure The government formally consists of the presidency and five branches of government, modeled on Sun Yat-sen's political philosophy of Three Principles of the People.
In practice, the system resembles a semi-presidential system with a uniquely strong presidency, as the president may appoint the premier, the head of government, without the consent of the legislature. The president, however, shares limitations found in other semi-presidential systems, including the lack of a strong veto and no direct control of most administrative policy.
CategoryNameRoleLeaderEnglishChinesePresidencyPresidentHead of state, Executive Lai Ching‑teVice President Hsiao Bi-khimOffice of the PresidentAdvisory and administrativeagencies to the President Pan Men-anNational Security Council Joseph WuFive YuansExecutive YuanExecutive, Cabinet Cho Jung-taiLegislative YuanLegislature, Parliament Han Kuo-yuJudicial YuanJudiciary, Constitutional court Shieh Ming-yan (acting)Examination YuanCivil service commission Chou Hung-hsienControl YuanAuditory Chen Chu
Presidency
The leadership of the country consists of the two top officials that is directly and jointly elected by citizens of the Republic of China residing in the Taiwan Area. President of the Republic of China Vice President of the Republic of China
Under the president, two advisory and administrative agencies are established to support the work of the president. Office of the President (Presidential Office) Secretary-General of the Office of the President National Security Council Secretary-General of the National Security Council
Executive Yuan
The Executive Yuan is led by the premier. However, the ROC's political system does not fit traditional models. The premier is selected by the president without the need for approval from the Legislature, but the Legislature can pass laws without regard for the president, as neither the president nor the premier wields veto power. Thus, there is little incentive for the president and the legislature to negotiate on legislation if they are of opposing parties. During the tenure of the pan-Green's Chen Shui-bian the continued control of the Legislative Yuan by the pan-Blue majority caused legislation to repeatedly stall, as the two sides were deadlocked. There is another curiosity of the ROC system; because the ROC was previously dominated by strongman one-party politics, real power in the system shifted from one position to another, depending on what position was currently occupied by the leader of the state (Chiang Kai-shek and later his son, Chiang Ching-kuo). This legacy has resulted in executive powers currently being concentrated in the office of the president rather than the premier.
Legislative Yuan
The main legislative body is the unicameral Legislative Yuan with one hundred and thirteen seats. Seventy-three are elected in single member districts; thirty-four are elected based on the proportion of nationwide votes received by participating political parties, and six seats are reserved to represent aboriginal groups. Members serve four-year terms. Although sometimes referred to as a "parliament", the Legislative Yuan, under Sun's political theory, is a branch of government, while only the National Assembly of the Republic of China, which is now abolished, with the power to amend the constitution and formerly to elect the president and vice president, could be considered a parliament. However, after constitutional amendments effectively transferring almost all of the National Assembly's powers to the Legislative Yuan in the late 1990s, it has become more common for newspapers in Taiwan to refer to the Legislative Yuan as the nation's "parliament" (國會, guóhuì).
Judicial Yuan
The Judicial Yuan is the ROC's highest judiciary. The President and Vice-President of the Judicial Yuan and fifteen Justices form the Council of Grand Justices. They are nominated and appointed by the President of the Republic, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. The highest court, the Supreme Court, consists of a number of civil and criminal divisions, each of which is formed by a presiding Judge and four Associate Judges, all appointed for life. In 1993, a separate constitutional court was established to resolve constitutional disputes, regulate the activities of political parties and accelerate the democratization process. There is no trial by jury but the right to a fair and public trial is protected by law and respected in practice; many cases are presided over by multiple judges.
Capital punishment is legal. Efforts have been made by the government to reduce the number of executions, although they have not been able to completely abolish the punishment. As of 2006, about 80% of Taiwanese want to keep the death penalty.
Examination Yuan
The Examination Yuan is in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants in the Republic of China. As a special branch of government under the Three Principles of the People. The concept of the Examination Yuan is based on the old Imperial examination system used in Imperial China.
Control Yuan
Based on the traditional Chinese censorate, the Control Yuan is an investigatory agency that monitors the other branches of government. It may be compared to the Court of Auditors of the European Union, the Government Accountability Office of the United States, a political ombudsman, or a standing commission for administrative inquiry. Before the 1990s, it was the upper chamber of the tricameral parliament.
History The Government of the Republic of China was formally established in 1912 in Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen as President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China under the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China. This government moved to Beijing in the same year with Yuan Shikai as president, and continued under his successors as the internationally recognized government of China until 1928. In the Republican period, there were a series of governments, sometimes in rivalry with each other. The Nationalist government, led by the Kuomintang (KMT), was originally formed as a rival military government under Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou in 1917. After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek led the Northern Expedition (1926–1928) to unify the country and established the capital in Nanjing. This government gained diplomatic recognition but did not control all the territory of the Qing dynasty. The essentially one-party rule functioned under Sun's Three Principles of the People, which provided for a transitional period of "tutelage", but drew more political parties, including the Chinese Communist Party into a United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). The Tutelage Constitution of 1931 was replaced by the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947.Ch'ien Tuan-Sheng (Qian Duansheng)The Government and Politics of China, 1912-1949. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1950).
1912–1928: Beiyang government
The first Chinese national government was established on 1 January 1912, in Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen as the provisional president. Provincial delegates were sent to confirm the authority of the national government, and they later also formed the first parliament. The power of this national government was limited and short-lived, with generals controlling both central and northern provinces of China. The limited acts passed by this government included the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty and some economic initiatives. The parliament's authority became nominal; violations of the Constitution by Yuan Shikai, who became president in March 1912, were met with half-hearted motions of censure, and Kuomintang members of the parliament who gave up their membership in the KMT were offered 1,000 British pounds. Yuan maintained power locally by sending military generals to be provincial governors or by obtaining the allegiance of those already in power.
When Yuan died, the parliament of 1913 was reconvened to give legitimacy to a new government. However, the real power of the time passed to military leaders, forming the warlord period. The impotent government still had its uses; when World War I began, several Western powers and Japan wanted China to declare war on Germany, in order to liquidate German holdings. Nevertheless, it was widely seen as weak and unstable.
There were also several warlord governments and puppet states sharing the same name. See also: Wang Jingwei Government, Warlord era, Chinese Soviet Republic.
1928–1947: Nationalist government
After the successful Northern Expedition led by the Kuomintang (KMT) and its leader Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT managed to unify China nominally and established the National Government of the Republic of China (also known as the Nationalist Government; ) with its capital in Nanjing, whose authority was maintained till the full-scale outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.
Known as the Nanjing Decade, the government ruled as a one-party state, as laid out by Sun Yat-sen's "Three Stages of Revolution" and his policy of Dang Guo (literally: party-state). The first stage was military unification, which was carried out with the Northern Expedition. The second was "political tutelage" which was a provisional government led by the KMT to educate people about their political and civil rights, and the third stage was constitutional government. The KMT considered themselves to be at the second stage in 1928. Although the Nanjing decade was far more stable and progressive as compared to the Warlord period which preceded it, it was still marred with widespread violence, official corruption and the ongoing civil war with the communists.
With the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the invading Imperial Japanese Army managed to capture Nanjing on 13 December 1937. The Japanese then proceeded to sack the city, and massacred hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians. With the fall of Nanjing, the government was forced to move first to Wuhan, until the city fell on 27 October 1938. It retreated further inland to Chongqing, which was the wartime capital until 1945. Although Chongqing was located in the inland western province of Sichuan, it was nevertheless heavily bombed by Japanese warplanes many times during the course of the war.