Opposition lawmakers propose Control Yuan impeach Premier over fiscal law

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Taiwan's Legislative Yuan Judiciary and Organic Laws Committee voted Thursday to propose that the Control Yuan impeach Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) over his refusal to countersign the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures.

Opposition lawmakers Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) and Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) proposed two censure motions and urged the Control Yuan to initiate impeachment proceedings against Cho, which the committee approved by a vote.

The Control Yuan, Taiwan's highest government supervisory body, said that matters involving public officials are handled in accordance with the Control Act and that any petitions received will be processed according to procedure.

The Legislative Yuan will submit the committee resolution to the Control Yuan, but whether impeachment proceedings are initiated is determined by the Control Yuan which currently has 28 members.

Under the Control Act, an impeachment motion must be proposed by at least two Control Yuan members and reviewed by a panel of at least nine others and, if approved, is referred to the Judicial Yuan's Disciplinary Court.

The committee invited Executive Yuan Secretary-General Xavier Chang (張惇涵), alongside officials from the Judicial Yuan and Ministry of Justice (MOJ), to give a special report on constitutional issues arising from the Executive Yuan's handling of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures.

• EXPLAINER: The Cabinet's refusal to sign revised revenue-sharing law

Premier Cho refused to countersign the Act, which would reallocate resources from the central government to local governments, on Monday -- the first time in Taiwan's history that the Executive Yuan has refused to countersign legislation.

Chang rejected the claim made by the TPP on Thursday that Taiwan is "substantively under the equivalent of martial law."

Explaining the reasons for Cho's refusal to countersign the Act, Chang said it has three clear unconstitutional aspects, including a violation of the principle of separation of powers by infringing on executive power.

It was also passed through a "sudden attack-style vote" without discussion or cross-party consensus in violation of the principle of democratic procedure, and would cause "irreversible harm to the country" by forcing the central government to borrow NT$266.4 billion (US$8.46 billion) in breach of the Public Debt Act ceiling, Chang said.

In their proposal, Huang, Lo and Wang said that under longstanding interpretations by the Constitutional Court, Article 37 of the Constitution -- which requires the premier's countersignature for promulgation -- serves as "a check on presidential authority."

The censure motions said that President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Premier Cho had "distorted the constitutional meaning of Article 37" by refusing to promulgate and countersign the Act.

The motions argued that if the executive branch can "arbitrarily overturn laws" passed by the Legislative Yuan and "usurp the judicial power to decide constitutionality," the principle of separation of powers would collapse.

The committee approved the two censure motions by a majority show of hands, with six lawmakers from the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) voting in favor of both motions and lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) voting against.

Meanwhile, Huang, leader of the TPP, said he will also propose that the Legislative Yuan introduce an impeachment motion against Lai at a plenary session, the next being scheduled for Friday.

Huang said that under the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power, the person being impeached would have to attend and "provide explanations."

According to the law, the Legislative Yuan may propose impeachment motions against the President or Vice President under Article 4 of the Constitution. Such motions must be initiated by more than half of all legislators and approved by at least two-thirds, after which the case will be handled by the Judicial Yuan's Constitutional Court.

In June, the TPP and KMT set up an ad hoc legislative committee tasked with attempting to revise the Constitution to transfer the Control Yuan's powers to the Legislative Yuan, where opposition lawmakers of the two parties hold a simple majority.

DPP lawmaker Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) called Huang's move to ask the Control Yuan to impeach Cho "ridiculous," noting that Huang has previously advocated abolishing the government watchdog.

Chung said Huang chose this approach over initiating a no-confidence vote on Cho's Cabinet because the latter could trigger the dissolution of the Legislature and a snap election if passed.

Later on Thursday, Premier Cho told reporters that the opposition lawmakers' use of constitutional mechanisms to impeach him demonstrate that Taiwan is not a dictatorship.