Taiwan's new "Executive Yuan" head Wu Den-yih was sworn into office Thursday afternoon together with a new set of department leaders.

Wu's predecessor Liu Chao-shiuan and former department leaders under the "Executive Yuan" resigned Thursday morning and conducted handing over procedures with Wu.

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou appointed Wu Den-yih, the ruling Kuomintang's secretary-general, to replace Liu on Monday.

Announcing his resignation Monday, Liu said as the leader of the "Executive Yuan", he should take political responsibilities for the authority's handling of last month's Typhoon Morakot.

The Taiwan authority replaced 10 department leaders in the reshuffle.

Ma Ying-jeou said Thursday at a press conference that negotiations on signing an economic cooperation framework agreement and a memorandum of understanding on financial cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan was delayed by the disaster relief and rehabilitation work of Typhoon Morakot. He hoped the two sides could resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Wu said at the same press conference that improving relations across the Taiwan Strait on the basis of peaceful development is conducive to people on both sides.

The new administration would push forward negotiations on signing the economic pacts, he said.

Wu said he planned to spend his first night as the "Executive Yuan" head in typhoon-battered Kaohsiung Thursday.

Typhoon Morakot ravaged Taiwan in early August, leaving more than 700 people dead or missing and forcing the evacuation of thousands. It was the worst typhoon to hit the island in nearly 50years, and caused havoc across the island's central and southern regions.

Source: Xinhua