At 48 years of age, Mr Chiang Chi-chen is the youngest permanent leader of the KMT in almost 100 years.PHOTO: EPA-EFE

TAIPEI (BLOOMBERG) – Taiwan's Kuomintang has selected a reform-minded chairman to rebuild

the beleaguered opposition party, a decision that could upend Beijing's decades-old framework for building ties with Taipei.

Lawmaker Chiang Chi-chen overcame the former mayor of Taipei City, Mr Hau Lung-bin, with more than 68 per cent of ballots cast by party members in Saturday's (March 7) vote.

At 48 years of age, Mr Chiang is the youngest permanent leader of the KMT in almost 100 years. In the wake the party's landslide election defeat in January, he has vowed a full "redesign", including rethinking the "92 consensus", the vague agreement that underpinned ties between the KMT and China.

"I'm going to work harder so that all party members can see change in the KMT and once again feel proud to be a member of the KMT," Mr Chiang said after the election at the party's headquarters in Taipei on Saturday.    [FULL  STORY]