They were picking a premier for Ma, the president elect.

Local media quoted them yesterday as choosing P. K. Chiang, a former minister of economic affairs and currently a Kuomintang vice chairman.

Asked right after a press conference Ma held, Chiang said at noon the question was too early to be answered.

“Won’t you wait a while longer?” he asked reporters who asked him the question.

Given his long career as an economic planner, Chiang, 76, must be a good choice as head of the new Cabinet, charged with revitalizing the Taiwan economy.

With a Ph.D. degree in economics, Chiang also served as chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development and vice president of the Legislative Yuan.

Moreover, Chiang was a colleague of Vincent Siew, the vice president-elect, for a long time at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Both served as chairman of the Board of Foreign Trade.

In the run-up to the election, Ma proposed to form a common market across the Taiwan Strait, which is Siew’s brainchild.

Chiang will be able to implement the Siew project, according to local press reports.