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The National Assembly is set up according to theory of Five-power Constitution designed by Dr. Sun Yet-Sen and is the distinctive organization in the Constitution of Republic of China. In 1916, Dr. Sun Yet-Sen proposed the idea of establishing the National Assembly by elected representatives from all counties. In 1921, he developed the concept of Five-power Constitution and National Assembly into a theory with separated constitutional rights, and he presented the specific design in the Fundamentals of National Reconstruction. On June 8 of 1933, the first edition of Constitutional Draft of the Republic of China expressed by Wu Jingsyong, one of the Constitution Drafting Committee members, included the system of the National Assembly in the article of the Constitution. On August 18 of 1933 Chang Jhiben, another committee member, delivered the first edition plan B of the Constitutional Draft of the Republic of China. Both editions clearly stated that the National Assembly performed the political power as the representative of all people. The Drafting Committee used Wu?s version as the master and took Chang?s version as reference for discussion and examination. In total, 3 years were spent for consulting and collecting ideas from people of all walks of life. On May 5 of 1936, the Constitutional Draft of the Republic of China was passed by the Legislative Yuan by 3 times announcement. The draft was called the Five-Five Constitutional Draft.
The National Assembly System, described in the Five-Five Constitutional Draft, was constructed according to the last will of Dr. Sun Yet-Sen. The National Assembly has the authority to elect the State President, Vice State President, President of The Legislative Yuan, Vice President of the Legislative Yuan, President of the Control Yuan, Vice President of the Control Yuan, Legislators, and Members of the Control Yuan. It also has the authority to review and modify the Constitution. The National Assembly has responsibility over all the Presidents and Yuans.
After the Five-Five Constitutional Draft was issued, it had been planned that the National Assembly be convened on November 25 of 1936, to formulate the Constitution on the basis of the Five-Five Constitutional Draft. Yet because representatives from all provinces were not timely elected, the plan failed. The next year the war against Japanese started and the Constitution work stopped. At the victory of the war against Japanese on 1945, government intended to convene a National Assembly to draw up the Constitution. However?the Communist Party had developed and become stronger, thus the state situation underwent a dramatical change. In order to seek a common understanding, the government called a Political Consultative Conference for which prominent people of all parties were invited to discuss the important affairs of the State. The Conference reached an agreement on 12 principles that related to modifying the Constitution. Suggestion given by the Political Consultative Conference was to make the National Assembly intangible, which means, to let all national electorates perform the four rights, and this is named the National Assembly.
Later, the Political Consultative Conference accepted the proposal for the amendment from KMT for resuming a tangible organization of National Assembly. Its power was limited and it was only entitled to the authority of electing and dismissing the State President, Vice President and Initiative. It also had the power of reviewing the Constitution amendment proposed by the Legislative Yuan. Conditions were set for performing the power of Initiative and Referendum. After the first edition of the Constitutional Draft had been completed by the Political Consultation and Constitutional Draft Review Committee, the draft was sent to The Legislative Yuan and passed on October 25 of 1946.
The National Constitutional Amendment Conference was called on November 15 of 1946 to review the Constitutional Draft of the Republic of China passed by The Legislative Yuan. The draft was officially announced three times on December 25 of 1946. The National Government proclaimed that the draft would come into force on December 25 of 1947.
The preface of the Constitution of Republic of China reveals that such a Constitution is formulated according to the last will of Dr. Sun Yet-Sen on establishing the Republic of China. It adopts a Five-power Constitution system in which the political power is separated from the Administrative power. As the highest department performing political power in central government on behalf of all people, the National Assembly is still under the influences of the Political Consultative Conference. The authority and function of the National Assembly is not as grand as that in the Five-Five Constitutional Draft.
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