Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang and his cabinet resigned en masse Wednesday, clearing the way for President Chen Shui-bian to reshuffle the administration. The resignation had been expected after Su announced at the weekend that he would quit following his defeat in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's primary for next year's presidential election.
Chen has already named Chang Chun-hsiung as his new premier, and he is due to be sworn into office on Monday. Television pictures showed Su and his cabinet in a group photograph outside the cabinet building after the last meeting of his 15 months in office.
Su also urged the opposition-dominated parliament to pass the government's budget after repeated delays. "This is unprecedented and will impact (on) economic development, national infrastructure and the subsidies for local governments," he was quoted as saying in a statement.
Observers say his failure to secure approval for the budget was a further factor in his early departure. He is the fifth premier to stand down since Chen became president seven years ago. Chang, for his part, currently heads the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, the body, which handles day-to-day civil contacts with rival China.
The 69-year-old had served as premier between 2000-2002. The independence-leaning Chen has urged Chang and his cabinet to stress Taiwan identity and social justice - code for underlining that the island is not part of China.