Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) elected a former top China policy planning chief as its leader Sunday, just two days before it is to step down as the ruling party, the dpa reported.
Tsai Ing-wen, 51, former chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), will replace Frank Hsieh as head of the party, which has been in power since 2000.
In a news conference announcing her victory, Tsai vowed to reform the party and to pave the way for it to return to power.
She also said after becoming the opposition party, the DPP would closely monitor the cross-strait policy of the China-friendly Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) government.
"We will closely watch the cross-strait policy of the new government to make sure that it is in the interest of Taiwan," she said.
The lawyer-turned-politician was regarded as rather conservative in her policy towards China during her term as MAC leader in 2000-4.
Her priority after taking up her new post on Wednesday is to repair the image of the 22-year-old party that has been seriously damaged by the corruption-tainted government of President Chen Shui- bian in the past eight years.