Since the 2005 amendments of the Additional Articles of the Constitution, the Legislative Yuan has been the de facto unicameral parliamentary body of the country.

Originally established in 1912 in Nanjing, the Government of the Republic of China relocated several times before finally moving to Taipei, Taiwan, in 1949 because of its military losses in the Chinese Civil War.

Up until the 1990s, the government has historically been dominated by the Kuomintang (KMT) under the one-party state Dang Guo authoritarian regime, before evolving into a multi-party democracy after martial law and the climate of White Terror gradually ended.

The president, however, shares limitations found in other semi-presidential systems, including the lack of a strong veto and no direct control of most administrative policy.

The leadership of the country consists of the two top officials that is directly and jointly elected by citizens of the Republic of China residing in the Taiwan Area.

Based on the traditional Chinese censorate, the Control Yuan is an investigatory agency that monitors the other branches of government.

It may be compared to the Court of Auditors of the European Union, the Government Accountability Office of the United States, a political ombudsman, or a standing commission for administrative inquiry.

After Sun's death in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek led the Northern Expedition (1926–1928) to unify the country and established the capital in Nanjing.

The power of this national government was limited and short-lived, with generals controlling both central and northern provinces of China.

After the successful Northern Expedition led by the Kuomintang (KMT) and its leader Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT managed to unify China nominally and established the National Government of the Republic of China (also known as the Nationalist Government; traditional Chinese: 國民政府; simplified Chinese: 国民政府; pinyin: Guómín Zhèngfǔ) with its capital in Nanjing, whose authority was maintained till the full-scale outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

Known as the Nanjing Decade, the government ruled as a one-party state, as laid out by Sun Yat-sen's "Three Stages of Revolution" and his policy of Dang Guo (literally: party-state).

Although the Nanjing decade was far more stable and progressive as compared to the Warlord period which preceded it, it was still marred with widespread violence, official corruption and the ongoing civil war with the communists.

Although Chongqing was located in the inland western province of Sichuan, it was nevertheless heavily bombed by Japanese warplanes many times during the course of the war.

Chiang and Li inaugurated at the Presidential Palace in Nanjing on 20 May 1948, formally marking the transition from political tutelage to constitutional government.

Under intense pressure to take responsibility for the government's bleak outlook during the course of the civil war, Chiang resigned as president on 21 January 1949.

With the fall of Nanjing to the PLA in April 1949, the ROC government moved south to Guangzhou, and then to its wartime capital of Chongqing, and finally to Chengdu.

Sensing that he would eventually lose the mainland to the communists, Chiang secretly started preparations to move the government to the island of Taiwan, which was placed under the ROC's control on 25 October 1945.

Based on the Constitution of the Republic of China, the head of state is the president, who is elected by popular vote for a four-year term on the same ticket as the vice-president.

Originally, the National Assembly of the Republic of China was elected in mainland China in 1947 to officially carry out the duties of choosing the president, to amend the constitution, and to exercise the sovereignty of the citizens, but in fact, the Assembly's role in Taipei seemed to reconfirm the executive powers of President Chiang Kai-shek.

In June 1990, however, the Council of Grand Justices mandated the retirement, effective December 1991, of all remaining "indefinitely" elected members of the National Assembly, Legislative Yuan, and other bodies.