THE CONTROL YÜAN:
The function of auditing is performed by the Ministry of Audit, subsidiary to the Yüan. What is directly performed by the Yüan is impeachment. On the authority of the Impeachment Act, any motion of impeachment, after being proposed by some control Committee or control Commissioner, is to be reviewed by three other control Committees. If the bill is passed by the three, the accused must be punished. Whenever a bill is rejected and its proponent does not agree to the rejection, the bill shall be reviewed once more by five other committees whose determination shall be final. Furthermore, emergency relief measures may be requested, according to the urgency of the occasion; and in order to facilitate the performance of its functions, the Yüan is permitted to investigate the documents of other offices as well as to demand explanations from them. The initiation of a motion of impeachment must be based upon one of the three following conditions:
a. Article 2, Impeachment Act: "If any illegal action or negligence of duty of an official be discovered, the Control Yüan itself is permitted to bring an impeachment against him."
b. Article 4, Regulations for the Execution of Government Rights; and Article 11, Act for the Punishment of Officials: "Specified officials may be impeached on demand of the superior who has submitted the case of his guilty subordinate to the Control Yüan."
c. "If an official be accused by the people, the case must be investigated. If the accusation prove to be true, the accused shall be impeached."
Although it is very prudent that the legislators have obliged the impeaching officers to take such steps as investigation, motion, and review, yet in this critical time these complicated measures must be considered too slow to keep pace with the development of affairs.
After the outbreak of war, the Central Government published the "Temporary Regulations for the Execution of War-time Controlment," in which the Control Yüan was charged with the duties of censure and proposition, besides what have already been mentioned. By censure it is meant that when emergency measures must be taken against an official whose illegal action or negligence of duty has been discovered, a written notice of censure may be submitted to the officer who directly controls, or is immediately superior to, the official in question. The officer receiving the notice must decide in as short a time as possible to deal with the censured with the administrative power in his hands. If he holds the censured innocent, he must reply, giving sufficient reasons. If he takes no measures, or fails to reply, or replies groundlessly, the control Committee making the censure is obliged to change the motion of censure into one of impeachment, and the impeached is liable to a penalty. Hence the principal significance of censure is that it takes emergency measures against the undesirable conduct of officials, so as to meet the demands of the war-time. This also implies further extension of the controlment to the administrative system, in order to quicken efficiency.
As for proposition, this means that when some legally specified obligations of office are administered feebly or inadequately, the Control Yüan may make a proposal or express its views to the office involved or to the office immediately superior. The office which receives the proposal must in as short a time as possible take adequate measures to remedy the situation. The duties of proposition, therefore, can not only correct administrators, but can also improve agencies. They are preventive, capable of requiring strict improvement of governmental activities. Effective anticipatory control may now be exercised over Chinese government agencies. Since being charged with the two new duties of censure and proposition, the Control Yüan has carried them into action with prudence. And the effects are rather remarkable.
When, in 1937, the government was moved to Chungking, a part of the Yüan employees were ordered dismissed. But the Yüan authorities still prepared copies of "Directions for the Work of Control Yüan Employees in Their Native (or Other) Cities (or Provinces)," and "Directions for the Work of Dismissed Control Yüan Employees," which were distributed to the dismissed. The former employees have been obliged to make monthly reports upon the local phenomena according to the "Directions." These reports are sent to the Yüan, thus helping its understanding of the truth in all corners of China.
In view of the fact that the "Temporary Regulations for the Execution of War-time Controlment" came into force, the Control Yüan accordingly prepared "Directions for Inspection and Investigation." From time to time, the control commissioners have been ordered to tour their respective districts. Moreover, control committees have been selected and sent out to different places to perform inspection of administration, national spiritual mobilization, conscription, military confiscation and requisition, the organization and training of the people, hoarding and reserves of supplies, communication and transportation, public support of the war, public security, the utter erasure of traitors, anti-air-raid preparations, ambulance equipment, the management of wounded soldiers and of refugees, taxation and other imposts on the people, production, construction, education, and all other things related to the war. Thus the work of the Yüan has become all the more intensified. In order to adapt itself to the circumstances, its organization was readjusted. A "Board of Legislative Study," subordinate to the Yüan, was established, with a view to studying Dr. Sun Yat-sen's "Constitution based upon the Principle of the Separation of Five Powers," the Control system, and anything related to war-time legislation about controlment. Besides, a "Committee on Procedural Technique" was added under the Secretariat, so that it will prepare plans for the improvement of Yüan activities, and will help to carry them into action.
In the spring of 1939, a "Plan of War-time Procedure for the Second Stage of War" was passed in the Fifth Plenary Session of the C.E.C. and C.S.C. of the Kuomintang. Both the decision concerning Article VI of Political Report and the lecture delivered by Generalissimo Chiang K'ai-shek in this meeting showed that much was expected from the Control Yüan. Abiding by the government's policy and taking into consideration its present needs, the Yüan, in addition to the performance of impeachment, censure, proposition and other functions established by law, prepared "An Outline of the Execution of War-time Controlment for the Second Stage" and its "Preliminary Procedure," with the extension of inspection as the chief means to set the machinery in motion.
According to the aforementioned "Outline" and "Procedure," the work of inspection is classified into two kinds. The inspection of the conduct of political officers and administrative officials is termed the general inspection. When special agents are sent out to inspect specified cases, this is called the special inspection. For the general inspection of the Central Government, the units are the offices, while for that of the local governments, the units are the districts [hsien]. In the case of a special inspection, when the agents are sent out solely by the Control Yüan, the term used is exclusive inspection; the inspection performed cooperatively by agents both of the Yüan and of other offices is called joint inspection.
The general inspection has, since January 1940, been vigorously put into effect. For instance, the anti-air-raid preparations on the outskirts of Chungking, the relief and management of wounded soldiers, refugees, and suffering children, and the spiritual mobilization of central and local government offices (including problems of efficiency and diligence) have all been carefully examined. Moreover, Control Committees have been sent out to different districts within certain periods, the frequency of which is based upon the importance of the place. Some went to Kweichow and Szechwan to inspect local administration in different districts. Recently, committees have been sent out to Shantung to make a variety of inspections. As for the special inspections, delegates have been incessantly sent out to make exclusive inspections; and joint inspections have also been made, by the joining of many control committees into the Itinerant Inspection Corps for Military Discipline and Morale, and the War-time Economic Inspection Corps. Committees which have thus been delegated to joint work are not only obliged to fulfil duties required by the Corps, but are also permitted independently to impeach or censure illegal or incompetent officials, whether civil or military. The primary functions of the committees remain unaffected.
Since military operations must be in harmony with political administration, wherever the military power reaches, the power of controlment must follow in its wake. The Control Yüan recently prepared the "Regulations for the Organization of Control Yüan War-time Inspection Corps of War Districts," which were later sanctioned and then promulgated. The number of the corps and of the areas to be inspected are fixed according to the War Districts marked off by the Military Affairs Commission. Each corps consists of three committees, and is organized by the control committees themselves; if there is a control commissioner in the area, he of course joins the committee, and performs all the functions established for him by law. Under each committee there are one secretary, one inspecting agent, three assistants, and one clerk—to assist the committees in routine administration.
Since the work of the control commissioners is stationary, behind the battle lines, the Inspection Corps of War Districts are itinerant, so that their emphasis can be laid upon the front. They are mutually dependent and intimately correlated. The network of national controlment is completed by the mobilization of the control committees to be sent out to make inspections, so that corruption may be eliminated and law and order enforced. And undoubtedly our resistance against the Japanese invasion has been benefited. This work is indeed a great help to the construction of a new China.