Taiwan’s Constitutional Court Strikes Down Much of Legislature’s Controversial New Powers – The Diplomat

On October 25, after weeks of speculation, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court struck down most of the expanded legislative powers sought by the Kuomintang (KMT) earlier this year.

Protests – later termed the “Bluebird Movement” – broke out in May against the perceived power grab by the KMT, which had newly reclaimed control of Taiwan’s legislature. The protests which grew to 100,000 participants in the span of a week, were the largest set of demonstrations that Taiwan has seen in the decade since the 2014 Sunflower Movement.

The Tsai administration is largely seen as having ridden into power in 2016 on the basis of political momentum after the Sunflower Movement.

The demonstrations broke out over fears that the new powers would allow private individuals, government officials, corporate executives, military staff, and others to be targeted and persecuted by the KMT under the auspices of legislative questioning through investigative committees.

Fines of up to 200,000 Taiwanese dollars or one year imprisonment would be imposed as criminal charges against individuals who did not answer legislative questioning or answered falsely. Charges could also be imposed for “contempt of the legislature” or the vaguely defined term of “reverse-questioning,” with civil society groups raising concern that these charges would be used to target opponents of the pan-Blue camp.

The Constitutional Court ruling will dissolve the investigative committees that were set up under the new powers by the KMT, even if the legislature is permitted to set up committees to look into matters under its legal purview. Likewise, the ruling will not allow for fines or jail time to be imposed on individuals who do not answer or falsely answer testimony when under questioning in the legislature, though the Constitutional Court affirmed that government officials would be held responsible for false statements.

The two investigative committees that had been set up to date target the approval process for Mirror TV, the first new television outlet approved for broadcast in over a decade, and egg imports by the Tsai administration to alleviate egg shortages during the summer.

The KMT has framed Mirror TV’s approval as an attempt by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to fast-track the approval of a television network that politically favored it. This seems to be an attempt at political retribution for the National Communications Commission not renewing the broadcast license for CtiTV, one of many outlets owned by Tsai Eng-meng’s Want Want Group. Want Want Group-owned media outlets such as CtiTV and the China Times have faced criticism of funding from the Chinese government and have been accused of allowing China’s Taiwan Affairs Office a direct say in editorial decisions.

The egg import case centers on the Tsai administration’s efforts to mitigate the rising cost of eggs as a result of shortages over the summer of 2023. With egg prices increasing by NT$3 per cattythe Tsai administration moved to boost imports of eggs from abroad. But controversy broke out as a result of one supplier, Ultra Source, reported being allowed to import 88 million eggs despite only having NT$500,000 in total capital, suggesting possible corruption. The public was also angry after 54 million eggs, or 37 percent of all imported eggs, were destroyed to avoid affecting market mechanisms after egg supplies recovered. The KMT further discussed that the egg shortages only occurred because of mismanagement by the Tsai administration.

As part of its revamp of legislative powers, the KMT also aimed to require President Lai Ching-te to make a state of the nation address to the legislature, after which he would face a question-and-answer session. This was criticized by legal scholars as an extension of legislative power over the executive branch in defiance of the separation of powers, though the KMT framed the speech as intended to strengthen legislative oversight over executive power. Though the Constitutional Court ruling does not require Lai to make this address, Lai has stated he is willing to do so anyway.

The controversy over legislative power is not likely to end with the ruling. With the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) acting to block the national budget for 2025, including Taiwan’s defense budget, Premier Cho Jung-tai of the DPP has suggested that Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, the executive branch of government, may seek a Constitutional Court interpretation over the pan-Blue camp’s actions.

According to the constitution, the Executive Yuan has the right to propose budgetary spending, while the parliament only has powers of review over budgetary spending. However, the KMT and TPP have sought to block the budget entirely. If the Executive Yuan did seek a constitutional interpretation, it would aim to defend its power to propose budgets from the legislature.

Meanwhile, the KMT may try to block the ability of the Constitutional Court to interfere with its attempts at expanding legislative influence. Indeed, another bill currently proposed by KMT legislator Weng Hsiao-ling would restrict the ability of the Constitutional Court to make majority judgments with less than a full bench of justices. Notably, seven justices are scheduled to retire at the end of October.

If the bill passes and the KMT then acts to block any of the replacement justices proposed by the DPP, this would effectively prevent the Constitutional Court from making majority rulings. In public comments, Weng has stated that the KMT aims to freeze the Constitutional Court so long as the party does not approve of the Lai administration’s proposed appointments.

More generally, whether with the legislative powers that the Constitutional Court struck down last Friday or the national budget for 2025, the KMT is accused of attempting to strip away powers from the executive and judicial branches of government and reallocate such powers to the parliament – ​​the only branch of government it currently has a majority in.

In a related move, the KMT has proposed to revive the Special Investigation Division (SID), a now-dissolved branch of law enforcement. The SID was previously used to investigate corruption among prosecutors but was often accused of acting to investigate enemies of the KMT. Notably, the KMT proposal would put the SID under the direct jurisdiction of the legislature rather than the Ministry of Justice.

The party seems to preferably reshaping the balance of powers between branches of government on the basis of its current control of the legislature. The Constitutional Court ruling is not likely to put an end to the contention.

Still, the KMT may be overestimating the amount of public support for its actions. The party currently only holds a slim majority in the legislature thanks to the support of its ally, the TPP, and the party has now lost three consecutive presidential elections. As such, the KMT arguably does not have a popular mandate to make broad-ranging, potentially permanent changes to Taiwan’s system of governance.