Control Yuan President Chang Po-ya welcomed all 11 new CY members at a pre-inauguration meeting held Jan. 18, 2018, two days after the nominees were approved by the Legislative Yuan. In a speech at the gathering, she expressed the expectation that all members will work together in exercising their constitutionally-granted independent ombudsman powers in order to ensure good governance.
According to Article 7 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, the Control Yuan shall have a total of 29 members, including a president and a vice president. Members of the fifth term CY were inaugurated on Aug. 1, 2014. However, there were only 18 members in total as the other 11 nominees had failed to be approved by the Legislative Yuan beforehand. Noting that the lower number of members impacted the effectiveness of the CY in exercising its powers, President Chang said she has consistently hoped for the remaining positions to be filled as soon as possible in order to enable the CY to carry out its duties to its full potential.
During the meeting, administrative units within the CY delivered briefings for the new members on their various tasks and responsibilities, such as circuit supervision of local governments, investigation research reports, and so on. The new members asked various questions regarding the administrative agencies supervised by each committee and offered their valuable input on how to exercise their powers. They also expressed that they place great importance on human rights-related issues and hope to actively participate in the affairs of the CY’s Human Rights Protection Committee, revise related provisions, and work to make sure that all government administration is in line with human rights standards.