Speaker of Belize House of Representative Hon. Michael George Peyrefitte visited the Control Yuan (CY) on the afternoon of April 22, 2015. He met with CY President Dr. Chang Po-ya and the two sides agreed to expand exchanges on ombudsman work.
In her opening remarks, President Chang extended a warm welcome to the delegation and hoped they could learn about the ROC control system within unique five-power constitutional framework. President Chang noted that the CY enjoys constitutional status and holds powers of impeachment, censure and corrective measures, which ensures better checks and balances. She also related the comment made by the Secretary General of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) during his visit to the CY weeks ago saying that the CY is the most powerful of its 172 members. President Chang expressed the hope to work more closely with the Belize ombudsman office in the future.
Mr. Payrefitte said that the Belize Office of the Ombudsman is also in charge of handling citizen complaints and has the constitutional power of investigation. However, the office has only one ombudsman and can only make recommendations based on investigation results, so the CY’s experience is worth learning from. Mr. Payrefitte also posed several questions on practical matters such as the procedures in exercising impeachment power, if a CY member could initiate a motion for investigation, how the CY members are selected and what are the criteria for becoming a CY member.
After learning that President Chang is the first female head of one of the five branches of the government, and that women make up the majority of the CY members, Mr. Payrefitte voiced his praise and described this as a progressive symbol of gender equality. He expressed his belief that women are capable of taking on greater responsibility due to their brilliant abilities.
At the invitation of the ROC government, Speaker Payrefitte visited Taiwan for the first time from April 18 to 23. He noted that the trip was short but impressive, and promised that he would visit Taiwan again. He also invited President Chang and others from the CY to visit Belize.
During the visit to the CY, Speaker Payrefitte was accompanied by the Director of Secretariat of Parliament Mr. Eddie Webster, the Ambassador of Belize to the ROC Ms. Cherie Minette Nisbet and the Director-General of the Department of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Larry R. L. Tseng. Also present were CY Vice President Sun Ta-chun and CY Member Jane Y.W. Chiang, who is also the Chairperson of CY's International Affairs Committee.