TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) — Taiwan has appointed the Mayor of Tainan William Lai as its new premier President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday (September 5), as she moved to shore up declining public support.
A reshuffle to replace the premier had been anticipated for months as Tsai’s approval ratings dropped below 30 percent by August, a private foundation survey showed, from nearly 70 percent soon after her 2016 inauguration.
Lai’s appointment comes a day after the resignation of Lin Chuan, the premier since Tsai took office in May 2016.
Lai, a Harvard graduate, was a lawmaker for four consecutive terms and a whip of Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus before becoming in 2010 the mayor of Tainan, home to the plants of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and other technology firms.