Taipei  - The Taiwan cabinet resigned Wednesday ahead of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration in six days.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung presided over the ceremony of the cabinet's resignation, putting an end to the eight-year scandal-plagued rule by pro-independence President Chen Shui-bian.

After Ma is sworn in on May 20, Chen will step down after having served two four-year terms, the longest tenure for a Taiwan president.

Ma, from the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), won a landslide victory in the March 22 president election, pledging to seek peace with China and revive Taiwan's economy, which has been hit by cross-Strait tension and Taiwan's five-decade ban on sea and air links with China.

Ma has promised to open sea and air links with China and to open the door to Chinese tourists to ease tensions and promote economic cooperation between Taipei and Beijing, split since 1949 when the Chinese Nationalist Government lost the Chinese Civil War and fled to Taiwan to set up its government-in-exile.

Currently only 24 mostly-small nations recognize Taiwan, formally called the Republic of China. (dpa)