Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party on Saturday replaced deputy legislative speaker Hung Hsiu-chu with KMT chairman Eric Chu for the island's leadership election, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

Chu was endorsed as the KMT's new contender after members voted against Hung representing them at the polls, following concern that her conservative views fly in the face of public sentiment.

Hung was nominated on July 19 as the KMT candidate for the Taiwan leadership election, but polls have shown her lagging far behind Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.

In order to improve its souring prospects in the election - which is scheduled for January 16, 2016 - the KMT decided to hold a special party congress on Hung's candidacy on Saturday afternoon.

"This is a critical moment," Chu told the congress, warning that "comprehensive defeat" in January would give carte blanche to the DPP and endanger relations with the Chinese mainland, AFP reported.

"Think about what the DPP would do. ... We'll lose cross-Straits peace," he said, promising a "new beginning" under his candidacy.

Members at the meeting voted overwhelmingly to ditch Hung, with 812 of 891 delegates voting to rescind her nomination. They then endorsed Chu's new candidacy with a round of applause.

Hung said before the vote that she would respect the party's decision.

Chu is mulling a visit to the US,  party spokesman Yang Wei-chung was quoted by the Central News Agency (CNA) as saying on Sunday.

Ever since the deeply-divided KMT replaced its presidential candidate as the party struggles for public support ahead of elections, local media have been speculating that Chu may make a one-week trip to the US in November and possibly visit Japan on his way back to Taiwan, according to CNA.

Yang said that the trip is possible and that Chu is considering it.