Without much warning at all, Taiwan has found itself in the middle of a constitutional crisis. Although the public reaction has been curiously muted so far, the Kuomintang (KMT) has already declared that it will seek to impeach both President Lai Ching-te and Premier Cho Jung-tai.

The trigger for the constitutional crisis came when Cho Jung-tai – who as premier heads the Executive Yuan, Taiwan’s executive branch of government – refused to countersign legislation that would increase revenue allocated from the central government to local governments. Taiwan’s Executive Yuan is controlled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), given the election of Lai Ching-te as president in 2024. By contrast, the legislature is controlled by the KMT through a slim majority along with its ally, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). 

Cho has justified the refusal on the basis that the increase in subsidies would push government borrowing to 17.1 percent of the national budget. This amount exceeds the statutory debt ceiling of 15 percent. 

Likewise, Cho has argued that the KMT and the TPP pushed the legislation through without any form of negotiation with the DPP. In this sense, Cho has suggested that the legislation is “undemocratic.” As passing the legislation would exceed the statutory debt ceiling, Cho has also suggested that the legislation is unconstitutional. 

Cho’s refusal to countersign has been endorsed by the DPP and by Lai. In a public statement, the DPP challenged the KMT to call for a vote of no-confidence in Cho as premier if they disagree with his actions. Cho has himself stated that he would welcome such a vote. 

Cho’s actions are, in effect, a bid to appropriate veto power over bills passed by the Legislative Yuan. The Executive Yuan does not have such a power under Taiwan’s system, unlike executive branches in other countries like the United States and South Korea. 

There is no precedent for this: the premier of the Executive Yuan has never before in Taiwan’s history refused to sign legislation passed by the Legislative Yuan. The closest precedent is Hau Pei-tsun as premier refusing to counter-sign the promotion of Gen. Chiang Chung-ling by Lee Teng-hui in 1992, leading Lee to withdraw the promotion. That this precedent involved a KMT politician has been cited by the DPP to justify its own move. 

While the latest crisis emerged suddenly, it’s related to a larger conflict that has been........

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