Lee Teng-hui Misruled the Nation, Shredded Its Constitution, Left Behind Chaos

Lee Teng-hui Misruled the Nation, Shredded Its Constitution, Left Behind Chaos
China Times editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
May 31, 2013

Summary: Lee Teng-hui, who left office long ago, has authored yet another book. He has followed up on his previous book, published a decade ago, entitled, "Taiwan's National Goals for the 21st Century." His new book is entitled "Whither 21st Century Taiwan?" It drew immediate media attention as soon as its publication was announced. We beseech Lee Teng-hui. Cease inflicting any further pain upon the ROC.


Full Text below:

Lee Teng-hui, who left office long ago, has authored yet another book. He has followed up on his previous book, published a decade ago, entitled, "Taiwan's National Goals for the 21st Century." His new book is entitled "Whither 21st Century Taiwan?" It drew immediate media attention as soon as its publication was announced.

The book's starting point is a question posed by Lee Teng-hui: "Who am I?" Lee Teng-hui argues that this "identity crisis" is the "most difficult fundamental problem Taiwanese face in the 21st century." Needless to say, in Lee Teng-hui's heart of hearts, the answer to the question "Who am I?" is, "I am Taiwanese, not Chinese." This question obsessed Lee Teng-hui during his 12 years in power. It was his underlying motivation for splitting the KMT, dividing Taiwan society, and subverting the Constitution of the Republic of China.

Lee Teng-hui has longed to found a "Republic of Taiwan." But despite two decades of Pan Green ideological indoctrination, he has concluded that "although substantively [Taiwan] has long been an independent and sovereign state, legally it still faces problems." In other words, "Taiwan's de facto status situation cannot be manifested in de jure terms." What is the solution to this "(Taiwan) nation which cannot become a nation" problem? Why it is what he proposed a decade ago: "Author a new constitution, and found a nation that Taiwanese can identify with." In other words, Lee Teng-hui personally undermined the constitutional framework of the Republic of China. He created a situation in which the "(Republic of China) nation was no longer a nation." He now advocates yet another step: Nullify the Republic of China Constitution, and begin anew by authoring a "Nation of Taiwan" constitution.

When Lee Teng-hui came to power, he and the DPP conspired to push for "constitutional reform." The means he adopted violated every principle of constitutional rule. Lee Teng-hui is the culprit responsible for the current constitutional chaos in the Republic of China. He and the DPP conspired to throttle the Republic of China, until it was on the brink of death. Now he hopes to deliver the coup de gras, and totally nullify the ROC as a legal entity.

Lee pushed for what he called, "constitutional reform." His goal was to transform a figurehead president into the actual wielder of political power. This would enable him to abuse the power to promote Taiwan independence. Toward this end, he usurped powers related to national defense, foreign diplomacy, and Mainland policy. He left only those domestic powers with no direct relationship to the promotion of Taiwan independence in the handss of the Premier. This reduced the Premier's powers to almost nothing. It infringed upon the oversight powers of the Legislative Yuan. It fundamentally perverted the cabinet system specified in the ROC Constitution. Lee's "constitutional reform" did not explicitly confer powers related to national defense, foreign diplomacy, and Mainland policy upon the President. It did not even touch upon Article 53, the key, which stipulates that "the Executive Yuan is the nation's highest administrative body," or Article 57, which stipulates that "the Executive Yuan must answer to the Legislative Yuan." Instead, it simply stipuated a directly-elected president and abolished the Legislative Yuan's right of approval for Presidential appointments of the Premier. It conferred the right to hold a no-confidence vote upon the Legislative Yuan. The result was a giant constitutional loophole. Lee then abused his "popular mandate" to incite hatred, to exploit loopholes in the Constitution, and undermine the workings of the Constitution. He reduced the Executive Yuan, "the nation's highest administrative body," into a body answerable to him and him alone. He not only usurped powers that did not belong to the president, he seized all real executive powers. He no longer needed to answer to the Legislative Yuan, in total violation of the constitutional principle that powers must match responsibilities. Now the only remaining legal constraint on the president was his periodic need for re-election. The "vestigial" Premier was reduced to the status of the president's "chief of staff." He was reduced to being the whipping boy for the President in the Legislative Yuan. The Legislative Yuan was deprived of the authority to challenge the President's unconstitutional usurpation of power. It was reduced to quarreling with the Executive Yuan. The constitutional chaos we see today is played out mostly in the Legislative Yuan. But behind the constitutional chaos, is a president with an unconstitutional monopoly on power, answerable to no one.

Lee Teng-hui rationalized away the political sleight of hand by which he violated the Constitution and the principle of constitutional rule. He openly incited "ethnic" (communal group) antagonism, euphemistically spinning it as "democratic civil war." On October 22 of last year, this newspaper published an essay entitled, "Taiwanese Style Democracy?" We pointed out how Lee Teng-hui characterized the political conflict on Taiwan as a "civil war" with "clashes between us and the enemy." Since it was a war, then one must battle to the death. Since it was a war, then "all is fair" in love and war. This is the source of the Taiwan independence-oriented political parties' election fraud, unconstitutional conduct, illegal conduct, double standards, shameless hypocrisy, coarse braggadocio, and rhetoric of violence. In his new book, Lee reaffirms his views on "democratic civil war." He clearly believes that "Until the Republic of China is dead, civil war on Taiwan cannot end." Lee Teng-hui sees the very nation he inhabits and the people who inhabit it as his enemy. On three occasions he flagrantly violated Article 48 of the Constitution of the Republic of China, namely, the presidential inauguration oath. Even more than Chen Shui-bian, he ought to face "severe legal sanctions."

In his new book Lee says, "Taiwan's past national leadership style emphasized Asian values. In other words, it implemented an imperial style of leadership." Lee concluded that this approach was not suitable as a model for Taiwan. But looking back at the "constitutional reform achievements" of Lee Teng-hui, at his abuses and usurpations of power during his terms as President, what difference was there between it and absolute monarchy? Lee Teng-hui said he admired France's Fifth Republic Constitution. He said he admired the founder of the Fifth Republic, President Charles de Gaulle. But once Charles de Gaulle left office, he desisted from meddling in the affairs of state. Lee Teng-hui, by contrast, seems determined to direct the affairs of the Republic of China from behind the scenes. He shows no signs of withdrawing from the political stage. Is this part of his "imperial overlord style of leadership"?

We beseech Lee Teng-hui. Cease inflicting any further pain upon the ROC.

中時電子報 新聞
中國時報 　2013.05.31
社論－詭道治國、毀憲亂政的李登輝 可以休矣
本報訊

    　卸任已久的李登輝又要出書了。這一次，他延續十年前發表的《台灣二十一世紀國家總目標》，繼續指點《二十一世紀台灣要到哪裡去》。消息一出，再度引起媒體熱議。

    　此書的出發點，就是由李登輝所認定的「我是誰？」這個認同問題而衍生出來的所謂「二十一世紀台灣人民遭遇最困難的基本問題」。當然，李登輝心中的「我是誰？」的答案，是「我是台灣人，不是中國人」。這就是李登輝當政十二年間最為念茲在茲的問題，也是他不惜裂解國民黨、撕裂台灣社會、顛覆中華民國憲法的根本動機。

    　然而，經過了超過二十年的綠化，李登輝認為他所企盼的「台灣國」雖然「實質上早就是獨立的主權國家，但法理方面可能還有一些問題」，也就是「台灣的實際狀況沒辦法在法理上面反映出來」。而要解決這個他稱為「（台灣）國不成國」問題的辦法，就是他在十年前提出的「透過制定新憲法的動作，確立台灣人對台灣這個國家的自我認同」。換言之，李登輝在親手把中華民國憲政秩序破壞到「（中華民）國不成國」的境地之後，還主張進一步廢憲、重新制定「台灣國」憲法。

    　我們回顧李登輝當政期間與民進黨合謀推動的「憲改」，他所採用的手段根本超過了任何正規的憲政秩序所能容許的範圍。目前中華民國的憲政亂象之罪魁禍首就是李登輝。而今，他還主張將這部被他和民進黨聯手凌遲到氣息奄奄的中華民國憲法一刀斃命，徹底從法理上消滅中華民國！

    　李登輝當年推動憲改，目標是把憲法上的虛位元首改為實權總統，以主導推進台獨。為此，他認為他應掌握國防、外交、大陸政策等權力，只把與台獨較無直接關係的內政事務留給行政院長。這不僅大幅削減閣揆的權力，同時也侵犯國會得以過問的國家政務範圍，根本改變中華民國憲法內閣制的架構。但是，他推動的憲改不是在憲法條文上將國防、外交、大陸政策的權力明文賦予總統，甚至於根本不觸及關鍵性的憲法第五十三條「行政院為國家最高行政機關」及第五十七條「行政院…對立法院負責」，而只是將總統改為由直接民選產生，並取消立法院的「閣揆同意權」（但卻又賦予立院倒閣權），造成一個憲法大漏洞。然後，他便藉由其選票帶來的「民意基礎」興風作浪，利用憲法漏洞扭曲憲政運作，強使「國家最高行政機關」的行政院變成他的下級機關。於是，他不但使總統違憲地收攬了全部行政實權，並且還完全不用向國會負責，完全違反權責相副的憲政原則。唯一可牽制總統的，只剩下定期改選一事。「殘留」下來的行政院長，成為在立法院代替總統背黑鍋的「總統幕僚長」；立法院既不能追究違憲擴權的實權總統的政治責任，也只能陪著行政院吵鬧度日。今日所見的憲政亂象，大部分是在立法院內演出，但是背後的憲政亂源，實為違憲獨攬大權卻不用負責的總統。

    　李登輝為了合理化他那些違反憲法和憲政原理的政治手法，還公開把他所挑起的族群對立稱為「民主內戰」。本報在去年十月二十二日的短評《台式民主？》中就指出：李登輝把台灣內部的政治衝突視為「敵我矛盾」的「內戰」。既然是戰爭，就要你死我活、不擇手段。這是獨派政黨常有選舉奧步、違憲違法、雙重標準、言行不一、粗口硬拗、語言暴力的根源所在。李登輝在他的新書裡仍然延續「民主內戰」的看法，顯然認為「中華民國不死，台灣內戰不止」。李登輝這種以國家和人民為敵的心態，根據他曾三度宣讀而又公然違反的中華民國憲法第四十八條總統就職誓詞，他比陳水扁更應受到「國家嚴厲之制裁」！

    　李登輝在其新書裡指出：「台灣的國家領導型態過去偏重『亞洲價值型』，也就是實施皇帝型的領導方式」，並主張這種方式不適合作為台灣的統治型態。然而，回看李登輝主導的憲改「成果」，他所行使的「總統」權力除了有任期限制以外，與帝制有多大差別？並且，李登輝欣賞法國第五共和憲法，也欣賞締造第五共和的戴高樂總統。但是，作風強勢的戴高樂一旦不在其位，就不再指點江山。李登輝熱衷對中華民國政治下指導棋，無休無止。難道這是「太上皇的領導方式」？

    　我們誠摯地期望：李登輝先生，放過中華民國吧！