Temporary Provisions against the Communist Rebellion
Amendments of the Constitution of the Republic of China
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History
The Republic of China adopted its current constitution in 1947 during the Chinese Civil War. In March 1948, the National Assembly elected to amend the constitution through Article 174 to grant the state emergency powers to prosecute the civil war. The amending Temporary Provisions were intended to expire after three years and were adopted on 10 May 1948. In 1954, following the ROC's defeat in the civil war and retreat to the island of Taiwan, the National Assembly extended the duration of the Temporary Provisions to be indefinite. The Temporary Provisions were amended in 1966 to allow for supplementary elections to the National Assembly from the Taiwan Area. There were further amendments in 1972, following the ROC's replacement in the United Nations by the People's Republic of China in 1971.
Abolition
On 22 April 1991, at the end of the Cold War, the National Assembly decided to repeal the Temporary Provisions; on 30 April, President Lee Teng-hui announced that Temporary Provisions measures would end the next day. Another amendment, the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, entered force on 1 May. The repeal of the Provisions caused some ambiguity in cross-strait relations and the political status of Taiwan, raising questions such as whether the "Communist rebellion" has "succeeded" and so the PRC government is recognized as legitimate by the ROC, or whether it would be legal now for the CCP to operate in Taiwan.
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Provisions
The Temporary Provisions allowed for the creation of the Taiwan Garrison Command and the National Security Council, both for the purpose of enforcing martial law. The provisions also allowed the President and Vice President of the Republic of China to be exempted from the two-term office limit. Extensive powers given to the president by the Temporary Provisions turned the ROC into a de facto presidential system, where the President also held the post of chairman of the Kuomintang, although the Constitution originally laid out a parliamentary system. Specifically, the provision relating to the president said:
In this Period of Communist Rebellion, for the sake of avoiding the emergent political crisis, and addressing the mammoth economic change, the president is empowered to adopt emergency measures through a resolution of a cabinet meeting of the Executive Yuan. The president's power will not be limited by the regular procedures of Articles 39 and 43 of the constitution.