TAIPEI (REUTERS) – Taiwan will appoint the ruling pro-independence party’s former chairman as premier, official media reported on Friday (Jan 11), a day after incumbent William Lai said he was resigning, along with the entire Cabinet, in response to local election defeats.

The election losses in November presented a major challenge to President Tsai Ing-wen, who came under mounting criticism at home over her reform agenda while facing renewed threats from China, which considers Taiwan its own.

Ms Tsai will appoint Mr Su Tseng-chang, the former chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for two terms, the official Central News Agency reported early on Friday, citing unidentified sources.

It said Mr Su’s appointment could come a day after the widely expected resignation of Mr Lai, the second premier to quit since Ms Tsai took office in 2016. It is standard practice in Taiwan for leaders to quit when their party loses a major election.

The Cabinet resignations will take place later on Friday and are expected to be followed by new appointments.

With just about a year until the next presidential election, analysts say Ms Tsai and the new premier need to shore up public support for the government’s policy on relations with Beijing and further boost the island’s export-reliant economy in a challenging year amid a China-US trade war.

Taiwan’s premier forms the Cabinet and runs the government on a day-to-day basis.

Mr Su was appointed premier in 2006 by former president Chen Shui-bian, who infuriated Beijing and strained Taiwan’s relationship with the United States during his tenure from 2000 to 2008.

The folksy Mr Su, popular among the DPP’s core supporters, has led Taiwan’s most populous New Taipei City for years. He was defeated by a candidate from the China-friendly opposition Kuomintang in November.

Ms Tsai has said her administration would reflect upon the election defeat but would stand firm to defend Taiwan’s democracy in the face of renewed Chinese threats.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has stepped up pressure on Taiwan since Ms Tsai became president, threatened earlier this month to use force to bring the island under Beijing’s rule and urged “reunification”.

Some from within the embattled leader’s party have urged Ms Tsai not to seek re-election. She has not explicitly said whether she would run for president in 2020.

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