Constitutional Revisions Completed

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the formal implementation of the ROC Constitution. But much has changed over the last 50 years. This July 18 a set of major constitutional revisions was passed by the National Assembly.

This largest amending project since the ROC government came to Taiwan in 1949 was led jointly by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) and the largest opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Besides confirming a dual-leadership system for the central government, it was also decided to "freeze" the provincial government, and alter the balance of powers among the the elements of the central government...

This article was written by Marlene Chen, translated by Phil Newell, and published by the Sinorama magazine in August 1997. It provides a general review of Taiwan's constitutional reform -- what has changed regarding the powers of the president and the premier, and the provincial government. The article points out that there are two issues that contributed to the reform. First, it had become necessary to clarify the powers of the president, now that he or she is popularly elected. Second, recent uncertainty over the limits on the Legislative Yuan's power to approve the premier made it necessary to clarify the relative powers of the legislative and executive branches. The article is an analysis on the results of the constitutional reform in relation to these two regards.

The Sinorama magazine's web site is:

http://www.sinorama.com.tw/

Click Here if you are unable to find this article.