Early Republican period Calls for a National Assembly were part of the platform of the
revolutionaries who ultimately overthrew the
Qing dynasty. In response, the Qing dynasty formed the
first assembly in 1910, but it was virtually powerless and intended only as an advisory body. In the early Republican Era, the
bicameral National Assembly was established by the
Beiyang government. The design referred to the structure of the
United States Congress as Senate () and House of Representatives (). However, the
Warlord Era with the interference of military power toward the constitution suppressed the authority and the reputation of the National Assembly.
The Chinese social and political science review quoted the institution's English name as ''National People's Congress'' during the drafting of constitution.
1947 Constitution In 1946, the
Constituent Assembly promulgated a new constitution and the
first National Assembly met in 1948 in
Nanjing, the Chinese capital. Apart from the KMT, the only legal parties were the
Democratic Socialist Party and the
Youth Party. Under the constitution, the main duty of the National Assembly was to elect the President and Vice President for terms of six years. It also had the right to recall or impeach the President and Vice President if they failed to fulfill their political responsibilities. According to "National Assembly Duties Act", the National Assembly could amend the constitution with a two-thirds majority, with at least three-quarters membership present, as well as to ratify constitutional amendments proposed by deputies of the
Legislative Yuan. It also is the main authority to alter territorial boundaries per Article 4 of the constitution. The responsibilities of the deputies of the Assembly, as well as of the Assembly as a whole, were derived from the directions of Sun Yat-sen. At that time the NA served as a counterpart to the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, with a Presidium of the National Assembly governing over its activities. File:1946 assembly cn.jpg|The National Assembly in Nanjing in 1946 File:Nanking Congress building.jpg|
National Assembly Building in
Nanjing, the meeting place of the first session of the first National Assembly in 1948 File:Congress building Nanking.jpg|
Paifang outside the National Assembly Building in
Nanjing during the 1948 National Assembly session In 1949, the
Chinese Communist Party won the
Chinese Civil War and
mainland China became the People's Republic of China. The National Assembly (along with the entire
ROC government) was
relocated to
Taipei. The Assembly's right to legislate was
put into moratorium until at least half of all counties in the nation were again able to elect representatives via their County Assemblies. The first National Assembly was to serve for a period of only six years. However, according to the
Kuomintang (KMT) leadership, the fall of the Mainland made it impossible to hold new elections there, as all Mainland provinces were under
Communist rebellion. As a result, the Judicial Yuan decided that the original members of the National Assembly representing Communist-controlled constituencies must
continue to hold office until new elections could be held. National Assembly elections were still held in
territories under ROC control. In accordance with the 76th interpretation of the 1947 Constitution by the
Judicial Yuan in 1957, the NA formed part of a three-chamber
tricameral parliament together with the Legislative and
Control Yuans and was the senior most chamber of parliament, with the latter two performing regular legislative work in the absence of the Assembly. During the years when it elected, recalled or impeached the president and vice president, it acted as an electoral college with all its county representatives serving as electors. File:Taipei Taiwan Zhongshan-Hall-01.jpg|
Zhongshan Hall, located in downtown
Taipei, meeting place of the National Assembly between 1950 and 1966 File:Chung-Shan Building face 20160320.jpg|
Chung-Shan Building, located in the
Yangmingshan region of
Taipei, meeting place of the National Assembly from 1972 to its dissolution in 2005 File:Secretariat of ROC National Assembly 20160723.jpg|Secretariat building of the National Assembly, downtown
Taipei Constitutional reforms in the 1990s . As a result of this decision, the same National Assembly, elected in 1947, remained for 44 years until 1991, when as part of a constitutional ruling a
Second National Assembly was elected. There was strong objection to the Assembly, which was derisively called the "
Ten-thousand-year Congress" by critics. Shortly after passing constitutional reforms in 1991, the National Assembly held direct elections in December. Following a 1994 constitutional amendment, the Assembly essentially became a permanent
constituent assembly, as the Assembly's other major role, to elect the President and Vice President of the Republic of China, was abolished. Direct elections for the president, vice president, and Assembly were held simultaneously in March 1996. However, these reforms granted it new functions, such as hearing the president's State of the Nation Address and approving the president's nominations of the grand justices and the heads of the
Examination and Control Yuans. Following the assembly's abolition, these functions are now in the hands of the Legislative Yuan. In 1999, the Assembly passed constitutional amendments which would link its election and term with the Legislative Yuan. Part of these amendments' effect was to extend the term of both bodies, which was strongly criticized by the public. The
People First Party was founded shortly after the
2000 presidential election. The two larger parties, the Kuomintang and
Democratic Progressive Party, wished to bar the
People First Party (PFP) from the National Assembly. As a result, the 2000 National Assembly elections were canceled, and delegates were to be selected
ad hoc on the basis of
proportional representation via special election within six months of the Legislative Yuan proposing constitutional amendments, calling for the impeachment of the president or vice president, or declaring a vote on changes to national borders. However, no such situation arose from 2000 to 2004, and the National Assembly never met during this period.
Dissolution On 23 August 2004, the Legislative Yuan proposed a series of amendments that included dissolution of the National Assembly. The purpose of this proposal is to transfer power to ratify constitutional amendments and territorial amendments from the National Assembly to the people. Under the amendments, subsequent proposed amendments are to be approved by three-fourths of the present members in the Legislative Yuan, with at least three-fourths of all members present. It would then be promulgated for a period of 180 days and then submitted to a referendum, in which a simple majority of all eligible voters shall be sufficient to ratify the amendments. A
Democratic Progressive Party proposal authorizing citizens' initiative rights to propose constitutional amendments was withdrawn after it became clear that such a proposal would not pass the Legislative Yuan. Opponents of such constitutional reforms argued that by eliminating the 3/4 legislative vote requirement, a relatively small number of voters could force a
referendum on
Taiwan independence which would trigger a crisis with the
People's Republic of China. By contrast, keeping the 3/4 legislative vote requirement would mean that any constitutional amendment would require a consensus among both the
pan-green coalition and
pan-blue coalition to be considered. The requirement that a majority of all voters approve the amendment allows for a party to block an amendment by boycotting the vote as was done with the referendums voted on alongside the March 2004 presidential elections. Under the Constitution at the time, the National Assembly must then be elected to consider these amendments. Such consideration and eventual ratification of the constitutional amendments was originally considered to be a formality, but a number of unexpected complications occurred in 2005. The first was the poor showing of the People First Party (PFP) in the
2004 Legislative Yuan election. The PFP was widely expected to merge with the KMT, but PFP Chairman
James Soong became disenchanted by the idea. The second was the reluctance of the
Taiwan Solidarity Union to pass the amendments. These amendments were seen by some Taiwan independence supporters as a prelude to a later declaration of independence, but the results of the 2004 election made this very unlikely. Faced with this outcome, the TSU became very reluctant to support a reform that would make elections by small parties such as itself harder. Another unexpected event occurred which gave the National Assembly elections on 14 May 2005 more significance than had been intended: the
election was lined up immediately after trips to mainland China by KMT Chairman
Lien Chan and PFP Chairman James Soong. This had the effect of turning the May 14 elections into an opinion poll on relations with mainland China which was undesired by the Democratic Progressive Party, though the DPP subsequently gained a plurality in the elections. On 7 June 2005, the 300 delegates voted (by a majority of 249 to 48) the constitutional amendments into effect, and so dissolved the National Assembly until the "
unification of the country" as stated in the preamble. ==Functions==