Research On The Constitution Of Republic Of China Drafted In1946

After Japan-invasion war, the political landscape in international community and China had gone dramatic change and democracies in Republic of China had developedunprecedentedly. Chinese people demanded to end the dictatorship of Kuomingtang (Nationalist Party) led by Chiang Kai-shek and establish federal and constitutional government.China’s Communist Party called for considering the national conditions while advocating democracy and constitutional government; it critically proposed the ideology of“new democratic and constitutional government”. All democratic parties protested thedictatorship of Kuomintang (the Nationalist Party) led by Chiang Kai-shek and hopedto found a more democratic capitalist Republic in China. The democratic personage within Kuomintang also cried for the democratic revolution and constitutional government,and they strongly opposed the dictatorship which was against the Three People’s Principles and political ideology proposed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.Under the pressure, Chiang Kai-shek was force to have an attitude and the Political Consultative Conference was held in Chongqing in January1946, where the constitutional issues were discussed and an ad hoc team was set up to draft the Constitution. During the process, Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek unilaterally scrapped the political consultative agreement and started the civil war, even though all the other parties strived for democracy.In the end of1946, despite of the strong opposition, Kuomintang held the national assembly involving no participants from other parties and issued The Constitution of Republic of China, which served its own interest. The Constitution consisted of174articles in14chapters, defining China as a democratic Republic whose political ideology was the Three People’s Principles. As a typical American constitution, it includedthe rights and the obligations of citizens, the organization of the national assembly, the systems of the central government and regional governments, etc. Compared with t he previous draft written in1946.In terms of the framework of the political system, although it claimed the foundation wasthe “five rights” proposed by Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the framework was “separation of the threepowers”, it actually made considerable adjustment, weakening the power and functions of theAdministrative Office, the Judicial Office and the Legislative Office, and thus providedprotection for the dictatorship. It combined the elements of both cabinet system andpresidential government, and the regional autonomy was merely hollow formality. Withregard to political ideology, the constitution integrated the thoughts of liberalism, democracyand socialism, which was innovative then.Compared with the previous draft written in1946, the new constitution revealeddevelopment in democracy in regard to political and economic systems and citizen’s rights.But the constitution still served for the centralization and dictatorship of Kuomintang, out ofthe step with the major principles in the Political Consultative Conference.