The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China, both during its time in mainland China and Taiwan.
Designed as a hybrid of auditor and ombudsman by Taiwanese law, the Control Yuan holds the following powers:
- Impeachment: The Control Yuan has the power to impeach government officials. Successfully impeached cases then go to the Disciplinary Court of the Judicial Yuan for adjudication. Impeachment of the President and the Vice President of the Republic follows a different procedure and does not go through the Control Yuan.
- Censure: The Control Yuan also has the power to censure a government official. The censure is sent to the official's superior officer.
- Audit: The Executive Yuan (cabinet) presents the annual budget to the Control Yuan each year for audit.
- Corrective Measures: The Control Yuan, after investigating the work and facilities of the Executive Yuan and its subordinate organs, may propose corrective measures to the Executive Yuan or its subordinate organs for improvement after these measures are examined and approved by the relevant committees.
According to the current Constitution, the Control Yuan shall consist of 29 members. One member shall be the President of the Control Yuan, and another shall be the Vice President. All members, including the President and Vice President of Control Yuan, shall be nominated by the President of the Republic and approved by Legislative Yuan (the parliament of Taiwan). Members serve with a term limit of six years.
Prior to constitutional reforms in the 1990s, the Control Yuan, along with National Assembly (electoral college) and the Legislative Yuan (lower house) formed the national tricameral parliament. It functioned similarly to an upper house of a bicameral legislature, though it formed its own separate branch and was indirectly elected by provincial or municipal legislatures with 178 senators elected.
Structure
Members composition
The Control Yuan consists of a council with 29 members, including a President and a Vice President and the National Audit Office. All 29 members and the auditor-general are nominated by the President of the Republic and approved by Legislative Yuan for 6-year terms. The incumbent 6th Control Yuan was nominated by President Tsai Ing-wen on June 22, 2020 and later confirmed by Legislative Yuan on July 17, 2020. Members inaugurated on August 1, 2020, and their terms expire on July 31, 2026.
{|class=wikitable
!width=350|President!!width=350|Vice President
|-
|Chen Chu||Post Vacant
|-
!colspan=2|Members
|-align=center
|National Human Rights Commission members||Other members
|-
|9 members||17 members, 1 seat vacant
|}
Council and committees
The council of the Yuan, chaired by the Yuan President, is divided into a number of committees to exercise the Yuan's supervision power. No member of the Control Yuan can hold another public office or profession while serving in the branch (according to Article 103 of the constitution), and members must be able to perform absent of partisan control or influence. Members can vote in no more than three committees and can join additional committees as non-voting members. Each committee can have up to 14 members and usually elects a convenor amongst themselves to chair committee meetings.
{|class=wikitable
!Standing committees!!Special committees
|-
|
- Domestic and Ethnic Affairs
- Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs
- National Defense and Intelligence Affairs
- Finance and Economic Affairs
- Education and Cultural Affairs
- Transportation and Procurement Affairs
- Judicial and Prison Administration Affairs
|
- Committee on Statutory Studies
- Committee on Consultation
- Committee on Discipline for Control Yuan Members
- Committee on Anti-Corruption
|}
The following responsibilities were also assigned by various acts.
- Anti-Corruption: The Anti-Corruption Committee is a seven-member committee, which cannot include the President or Vice President of the Control Yuan, which deals with asset declarations by government officials, recusals due to conflict of interest, and political donations.
- Examination Invigilation: The Control Yuan also appoints proctors to supervise examinations for civil servants.
National Human Rights Commission
The National Human Rights Committee is a ten-member committee under the Control Yuan which investigates human rights abuses, proposes human rights laws, compiles an annual report and promotes human rights education. The President of the Control Yuan must be a member of the committee. The committee was established by the National Human Rights Committee Organic Law on 10 December 2019.
- On 19 February 2020, the Control Yuan impeached five military personnel which it deemed responsible for a F-16 Fighter aircraft crash on June 4, 2018, that killed all on board. The case was forwarded to the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission in the Judicial Yuan to determine the punishment.
- On 4 June 2019, Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉), a top aide of former Hualien County commissioner Fu Kun-chi, Lin Chin-hu (林金虎), a county government employee, and media section chief Huang Wei-jun (黃微鈞), were impeached for bribery using $5.26 million in public funds. Both were found guilty on 18 February 2020; Hsieh was given two demerits and fined $100,000 NTD, Lin was handed a 10% pay reduction for a year, and Huang was given one demerit and fined $100,000 NTD.
- On 15 January 2019, Kuan Chung-ming, the president of National Taiwan University, was impeached for violating a law prohibiting public servants from working other jobs. The case was forwarded to the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission in the Judicial Yuan to determine whether he was guilty and the appropriate punishment. Kuan was found guilty on 2 September 2019 and officially reprimanded.
History
Constitutional theory
The concept of Control Yuan was introduced by Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. The theory proposed a separation of powers into five branches (). Sun Yat-sen demonstrated the benefit of separating the supervision and auditing power from the legislature by the designation of the state organs of the Imperial China. He quotes the long tradition of supervision used in past dynasties, ranging from the Censor () established by the Qin () and Han () dynasties to the tái () and jiàn () offices established under the Sui () and Tang () dynasties (tai were selected to supervise civil officials and military officers, while jian were selected to counsel the emperor on supervisory matters) to the Board of Public Censors () selected under the Ming () and Qing () dynasties. Most of these offices also operated local and provincial branches to supervise local governments. Under the Qing dynasty, the Board of Public Censors consisted of forty or fifty members, and two presidents, one of Manchu ancestry and the other of Han Chinese ancestry. They were, in theory, allowed to send one censor to participate in the meetings of all government boards. The Board's powers were minimized by the time of political flux which preceded the end of the Empire.
However, the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China has many influences from the resolutions of the Political Consultative Assembly held between the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang; KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party. Carsun Chang, the major author of the Constitution draft in the Political Consultative Assembly, considered the fact that the supervision and auditing power is traditionally held by the legislature, and also the proposal of federalism from the Communist Party in the drafting process. He designed the Control Yuan to be a chamber of parliament that is indirectly elected by the provincial legislatures of China. The Control Yuan has some similarities to the United States Senate, which allocated a similar number of seats to each province of China and holds the power to confirm many important public positions in the Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan appointed by the President of the Republic.
In the 1947 constitution, the Control Yuan, together with National Assembly and Legislative Yuan, thus formed chambers of a tricameral parliament according to the Judicial Yuan's interpretation number 76 of the Constitution in 1957. The Control Yuan was given the power to request documents from other government agencies and investigate them for violations of law or neglect as under Sun Yat-sen's ideology. The auditor-general was considered elected by the Control Yuan, who shall be nominated by the President of the Republic with consent of the Legislative Yuan, who was responsible for submitting reports on government budgets. Finally, the Control Yuan had confirmation power for the President, Vice President and members of the Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan.
Establishment and relocation to Taiwan
thumb|right|250px|The Control Yuan building, built in 1915 when [[Taiwan under Japanese rule|Taiwan was under Japanese rule as the governmental building of Taihoku Prefecture.]]
In the early republican era, the Beiyang government was in favor of the traditional three-branch form of separation of powers. However, a weak culture of republicanism and, later, the Warlord Era suppressed the implementation of this constitutional ideology.
After a successful Northern Expedition campaign, the Kuomintang secured its leadership in China and started to build the Nationalist government according to Sun Yat-sen's ideology. Five branches (Yuans) were created under the Kuomintang's party-state administration. During this time, the Auditing Yuan () was established in February 1928, but in February 1931, the Control Yuan was established and the Auditing Yuan was downgraded to the current ministry-level National Audit Office within the Control Yuan. The creation of Control Yuan on 16 February 1931 was the last establishment of the five-Yuans.
However, the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China, although retaining the architecture of the five-branch government, changed the Control Yuan to be a parliament chamber. Under the constitution, members of the Yuan (by now senators de facto) were elected from regional legislatures: 5 senators elected from each province, 2 from each of the direct-administered municipalities, 8 from Mongolia (by 1948 only the Inner Mongolian provinces were represented), 8 from Tibet, and 8 from the overseas Chinese communities. As originally envisioned both the President and Vice President of the Control Yuan were to be elected by and from the members like the speaker of many other parliamentary bodies worldwide (and similar to the President Pro-Tempore of the United States Senate). Following the promulgation of the Constitution, the 178 first Control Yuan senators elected by the regional legislatures convened in Nanking on June 4, 1948, for the opening of their chamber.
On 18 July 1997, by the 4th constitutional amendment, the procedure to impeach the President and Vice President of the Republic was transferred out from the Control Yuan. In this amendment, presidential impeachment shall be initiated by Legislative Yuan and voted by the National Assembly. However, the later political developments in Taiwan has inclined to simplify the parliament to one chamber. The Legislative Yuan was the surviving chamber and the National Assembly was then abolished. Since 25 April 2000, confirmation of leaders and members of the Control Yuan are transferred to Legislative Yuan, together with the confirmation of similar officials of Judicial Yuan and Examination Yuan.
At the end of 2004, President Chen Shui-bian sent a list of nominees to positions in the Control Yuan to the Legislative Yuan for approval. The coalition of Kuomintang and People First Party, which then held a majority in the Legislative Yuan, refused to ratify President Chen's nominees and demanded that he submit a new list. The political deadlock that resulted stopped the Control Yuan from functioning from February 2005 to July 2008. The situation resolved after Kuomintang's candidate Ma Ying-jeou was elected as the President in 2008 Taiwanese presidential election and Kuomintang won the supermajority of Legislative Yuan seats in 2008 Taiwanese legislative election. Mr. Wang Chien-shien was then appointed to be its president under the Ma Ying-jeou administration.
In 2016, Democratic Progressive Party's candidate Tsai Ing-wen was elected as the President in 2016 Taiwanese presidential election and Democratic Progressive Party won the majority of Legislative Yuan seats in 2016 Taiwanese legislative election. On 10 December 2019, the Legislative Yuan passed the National Human Rights Committee Organic Law (國家人權委員會組織法), which established the National Human Rights Committee under the Control Yuan. Its duties include investigating human rights abuses, proposing human rights laws, compiling an annual report, and educational promotion of human rights, in accordance with the Paris Principles. The committee will consist of 10 members, one of which is the President of the Control Yuan who heads the committee. It launched on August 1, 2020, with former democracy activist Chen Chu as president. Kuomintang member Justin Huang was discussed as a potential vice-president, but he declined the position after receiving criticism from both the KMT for crossing party lines without consultation and the DPP for his role in the construction of the Taitung Miramar Resort while he was county magistrate, for which the county government was censured by the Control Yuan.
In June 2025, an amendment to the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China sponsored by Huang Kuo-chang (TPP) and Lo Chih-chiang (KMT) was formally submitted to abolish the Control Yuan.
Elections and terms
thumb|200px|Jurisdiction of Control Yuan branch offices (Suspended since 1949)
The Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the year following the elections after the enactment of the 1947 constitution. As the Kuomintang government continues to claim sovereignty over mainland China, the term limit of the original Members of the Control Yuan was extended until "re-election is possible in their original electoral districts." In response to the increasing democracy movement in Taiwan, limited supplementary elections were held in the Free Area (Taiwan) starting 1969. Members elected in these supplementary elections served together with those who were elected in 1948. This situation remained until a Constitutional Court (Judicial Yuan) ruling on June 21, 1991, that ordered the retirement of all members with extended terms by the end of 1991.
{|class=wikitable
!Term!!Length!!Actual length!!Election/Appointment!!Seats!!Notes
|-
|align=center rowspan=5|1st||rowspan=5|Initially 6 years,<br>then limit removed by<br>Temporary Provisions||rowspan=5|Jun 4, 1948－Jan 31, 1993<br>(See Note column for<br>detailed terms)
|1947－48 elections||178||The only election held in mainland China. 5 seats were elected in Taiwan.<br>104 members retreated to Taiwan with the government; served until the end of 1991.
|-
|1969 supp||2||Elected in Taipei, terms equal to the 1948-elected members
|-
|1973 1st supp||15||Elected in Taiwan with 6-year terms; then extended to 8 years
|-
|1980 2nd supp||32||Elected in Taiwan with 6-year terms
|-
|1987 3rd supp||32||Elected in Taiwan with 6-year terms; served until Jan 31, 1993
|-
|align=center|2nd||rowspan=5|6 years||Feb 1, 1993－Jan 31, 1999
|rowspan=2|Presidential nomination with<br>National Assembly confirmation
|rowspan=5|29||Changed to a non-parliamentary institution; elections stopped
|-
|align=center|3rd||Feb 1, 1999－Jan 31, 2005||
|-
|align=center|4th||Aug 1, 2008－Jul 31, 2014
|rowspan=3|Presidential nomination with<br>Legislative Yuan confirmation
|Vacancy due to Legislative Yuan's refusal to initiate the confirmation process
|-
|align=center|5th||Aug 1, 2014－Jul 31, 2020||
|-
|align=center|6th||Aug 1, 2020－Jul 31, 2026||Incumbent
|}
Timeline of Control Yuan elections and terms
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = right:80 left:100 bottom:60 top:10
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1948 till:01/01/2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
Colors =
id:gridmajor value:gray(0.2)
id:gridminor value:gray(0.9)
id:chn value:blue legend:Elected_in_mainland_China_and_Taiwan
id:spp value:skyblue legend:Supplementary_members_elected_in_Taiwan
id:twn value:drabgreen legend:Appointed_by_the_President_in_Taiwan
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gridmajor unit:year increment:5 start:01/01/1950
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gridminor unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1948
BarData =
bar:1st text:1st
bar:sp0 text:1st, supp
bar:sp1 text:1st, 1st supp
bar:sp2 text:1st, 2nd supp
bar:sp3 text:1st, 3rd supp
bar:2nd text:2nd
bar:3rd text:3rd
bar:4th text:4th
bar:5th text:5th
bar:6th text:6th
PlotData =
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:till fontsize:m
bar:1st
from: 06/04/1948 till: 12/31/1991 color:chn text:178 seats (1948)
bar:sp0
from: 02/01/1970 till: 12/31/1991 color:spp text:2 seats
bar:sp1
from: 02/01/1973 till: 01/31/1981 color:spp text:15 seats
bar:sp2
from: 02/01/1981 till: 01/31/1987 color:spp text:32 seats
bar:sp3
from: 02/01/1987 till: 01/31/1993 color:spp text:32 seats
bar:2nd
from: 02/01/1993 till: 01/31/1999 color:twn text:29 seats
bar:3rd
from: 02/01/1999 till: 01/31/2005 color:twn text:29 seats
bar:4th
from: 08/01/2008 till: 07/31/2014 color:twn text:29 seats
bar:5th
from: 08/01/2014 till: 07/31/2020 color:twn text:29 seats
bar:6th
from: 08/01/2020 till: 07/31/2026 color:twn text:29 seats
</timeline>
President and Vice President of the Control Yuan
thumb|[[Chen Chu, the incumbent President of the Control Yuan]]
Before the 1947 Constitution
The President and Vice President of the Control Yuan in the Nationalist government era were appointed by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party).
{|class=wikitable
!President!!Vice President
|-
|
- Tsai Yuan-pei () (8 October 1928 – 28 August 1929) not inaugurated
- Zhao Dai-wen () (29 August 1929 – 17 November 1930) not inaugurated
- Yu Yu-jen () (18 November 1930 – 9 June 1948)
|
- Chen Guo-fu () (8 October 1928 – 27 December 1931)
- Ding Wei-fen () (28 December 1931 – 6 December 1935)
- Hsu Chung-chih () (7 December 1935 – 26 December 1941)
- Liu Shang-qing () (27 December 1941 – 19 February 1947)
- Huang Shao-hong () (7 June 1947 – 26 October 1947)
- Liu Zhe () (27 October 1947 – 4 June 1948)
|}
1947 Constitution
The Control Yuan was a chamber of parliament under the 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China. The President and Vice President of the Control Yuan were elected by and from the members like the speaker of many other parliamentary bodies.
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Order!!Date!!colspan=2|President!!colspan=2|Vice President!!Note
|-
|rowspan=6|1||Jun 9, 1948–Jan 6, 1954||rowspan=5|Yu Yu-jen||rowspan=5|||Liu Che||||align=left|Inaugurated in Nanking and moved to Taipei
|-
|Jan 7, 1954–Aug 17, 1954||colspan=2|||align=left|Vice President Liu Che died in office
|-
|Aug 18, 1954–Jul 11, 1957||Liang Shang-tung||||align=left|
|-
|Jul 12, 1957–Apr 11, 1958||colspan=2|||align=left|Vice President Liang Shang-tung died in office
|-
|Apr 12, 1958–Nov 9, 1964||rowspan=2|Li Shih-tsung||rowspan=2|||align=left|
|-
|Nov 10, 1964–Aug 16, 1965||colspan=2|||align=left|President Yu Yu-jen died in office
|-
|rowspan=2|2||Aug 17, 1965–May 14, 1972||Li Shih-tsung||
|rowspan=2|Chang Wei-han||rowspan=2|||align=left|
|-
|May 15, 1972–Mar 18, 1973||colspan=2|||align=left|President Li Shih-tsung died in office
|-
|rowspan=2|3||Mar 19, 1973–Mar 23, 1981||rowspan=2|Yu Chun-hsien||rowspan=2|
|Chou Pai-lien||||align=left|
|-
|Mar 24, 1981–Mar 11, 1987||Huang Tzuen-chiou||||align=left|
|-
|rowspan=3|4||Mar 12, 1987–Dec 29, 1991||rowspan=3|Huang Tzuen-chiou||rowspan=3|
|Ma Kung-chun||||align=left|
|-
|Dec 30, 1991–Feb 19, 1992||colspan=2|||align=left|Vice President Ma Kung-chun retired at end of 1991
|-
|Feb 20, 1992–Jan 31, 1993||Lin Rong-san||||align=left|
|}
1992 Constitution amendment
Since the 1992 ratification of the constitutional amendment, the Control Yuan was reorganized from a chamber of parliament to an independent agency that still performs most of its designated constitutional powers. Since the 4th term, the President and Vice President of the Control Yuan, together with other members, were nominated by the President of the Republic and approved by the Legislative Yuan (the now-unicameral parliament of Taiwan).
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
!Term!!Date!!colspan=2|President!!colspan=2|Vice President!!Note
|-
|rowspan=3|2nd||Feb 1, 1993–Sep 22, 1995||Chen Li-an||||rowspan=3|Cheng Shuei-chih||rowspan=3|||align=left|
|-
|Sep 23, 1995–Aug 31, 1996||colspan=2|
|align=left|President Chen Li-an resigned to run for 1996 Taiwanese presidential election
|-
|Sep 1, 1996–Jan 31, 1999||Wang Tso-yung||||align=left|
|-
|3rd||Feb 1, 1999–Jan 31, 2005||Fredrick Chien||||Cheng Meng-lin||||align=left|
|-
|||Feb 1, 2005–Jul 31, 2008||colspan=2 ||colspan=2 ||align=left|Vacant due to Executive-Legislative conflict
|-
|4th||Aug 1, 2008–Jul 31, 2014||Wang Chien-shien||||Chen Jinn-lih||||align=left|
|-
|5th||Aug 1, 2014–Jul 31, 2020||Chang Po-ya||||Sun Ta-chuan||||align=left|
|-
|6th||Aug 1, 2020–present||Chen Chu||||Lee Hung-chun||||align=left|Vice presidency vacant from Aug 1, 2020 to May 30, 2022
|}
Comparable agencies in other countries
{|class=wikitable
!Country!!Agency
|-
|||Federal Court of Accounts
|-
|||National Supervisory Commission ()
|-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:WhatLinksHere/Control_Yuan
|||European Court of Auditors
|-
|||State Comptroller (, )
|-
|||Board of Audit ()
|-
|||Office of the Ombudsman and Commission on Audit
|-
| (ROK)||Board of Audit and Inspection ()
|-
|||National Audit Office
|-
|||Government Accountability Office
|}
See also
- Comptroller
- Government of the Republic of China
- Government performance auditing
- Ombudsman
- Politics of the Republic of China