Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is reviewing its consent power over personnel appointments to the new Control Yuan. Nominee Wu Tzu-sheng argues that the Control Yuan's powers should be allowed to operate normally until the system is changed — good news for those who want the Control Yuan to keep functioning.

• The Legislative Yuan's Committee of the Whole invited several Control Yuan nominees to attend and answer questions, as the personnel appointments nominated by Lai Ching-te in June enter a critical stage of review.
• Wu Tzu-sheng said the Republic of China's separation of five powers gives the Control Yuan the status of a constitutional body, which is rare internationally and often leads to conflicts of authority with other agencies.
• He argued that changing a constitutional body would require amending the constitution and would need a national consensus, so the pragmatic approach at this stage is to let Control Yuan members exercise their duties normally.
• Pressed by lawmakers on controversies such as the Legislative Yuan's deep cuts to civil servants' salaries and the Executive Yuan's refusal to countersign, he said these are all constitutional-level questions that should be handed to the Constitutional Court.
• He also noted that if the government were compared to an employer, a pay cut imposed out of dissatisfaction with an employee's performance could only take effect going forward and could not be applied retroactively.

Outlook: Once the review of the personnel consent case concludes, it will be sent to a floor vote, while the disputes over the salary freeze and cuts and over countersignature may ultimately end up before the Constitutional Court.