Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's government, whose popularity has been falling, announced Monday that she has accepted the resignation of Premier Lin Chuan, in a move seen as paving the way for a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of local elections next year.
The Presidential Office, in a statement, thanked Mr Lin for his efforts to put into practice many of Ms Tsai's campaign promises, thereby laying a solid foundation for the success of the administration.
Ms Tsai, of the independence leaning Democratic Progressive Party, "reluctantly accepted" his resignation, it said, adding that she will hold a press conference on Tuesday morning on the matter.
Taiwan's political system is described as semi-presidential where there is a popularly elected president who appoints the premier and Cabinet ministers.
Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung told reporters that Mr Lin, who has been premier since Ms Tsai came to power in May last year, submitted his resignation letter to her on Sunday. He did not confirm local media reports that Tainan Mayor William Lai will succeed Mr Lin as premier.
Mr Lin told a separate press conference that he and Ms Tsai discussed potential candidates for his successor and reached a consensus, but he left it to the president to make the official announcement.
He said he broached his intention to resign to her in June and asked her then to find his successor as soon as possible as the nationwide local elections are only one year away.
As the draft bill of the tax reform was completed last week, Mr Lin said, he felt it was an opportune time to leave.
Without any political affiliation, Mr Lin, 66, is a second generation mainlander and an accomplished economist who served a stint as finance minister during the 2000-2008 presidency of Chen Shui-bian.
Since Mr Lin took office 15 months ago, there have been constant calls to replace him and members of the Cabinet.
Many critics, including die-hard pro-independence activists and faction members coveting government positions, have criticised the Cabinet members for being too old and too sympathetic to pro-unification parties like the Nationalist Party.
Though described as a supporter of Taiwanese independence, Mr Lai suggested seeking common ground with China earlier in the year and said the ruling Democratic Progressive Party should approach Beijing with confidence.
China cut off contacts with Ms Tsai's government more than a year ago because of her refusal to endorse Beijing's view that Taiwan is a part of China. The sides separated amid civil war in 1949 and China continues to threaten force to gain control over the island of 23 million people.
Government surveys since 2014 have found at least 70% of Taiwanese prefer autonomy from the Communist government in Beijing.
Ms Tsai's popularity rating dipped to 33% in June partly over perceptions she had failed to manage foreign relations under pressure from China, which uses its economic power and global diplomatic clout to marginalise the island. Taiwan has lost two diplomatic allies to China in Ms Tsai's term to date.
At the same time, China is Taiwan's top trading partner, with imports and exports totalling $118 billion last year and billions of dollars invested by Taiwanese in the mainland since the 1990s.
Tainan city news department director Hsu Shu-fen declined to say whether Lai wanted the premier's job, calling word about his appointment “news that hasn't taken place yet”.
Mr Lin had suffered from low popularity, with the independent Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation putting his approval rating at 28.7% in May. Taiwan's high-tech, export-driven economy has suffered in recent years from low growth and stagnant wages, particularly among young people.
Mr Lin said at a news conference on Monday that he had asked the president in June to replace him before the 2018 elections so he could avoid getting involved in political issues.
“These aren't things that fall within my interests,” he said.
Mr Lin was hired as a “transitional figure” and had done all he could given his limited political contacts, said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence. He oversaw pension reform, despite staunch opposition from government employees, and saw through the approval this year of a $13.9 billion plan to build infrastructure such as commuter railways and irrigation projects.
“He's not really all that well connected in the Democratic Progressive Party,” Mr Wu said. “He has fulfilled what he needed to get done.”