President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Sept. 14 Halimah Yacob on her swearing-in earlier the same day as Singapore’s eighth president and first female head of state, according to the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
Tsai is looking forward to working with Halimah on further deepening and expanding exchanges between Taiwan and Singapore, the MOFA said, adding that she is grateful for the bilateral relationship and attaches great importance to cooperating with the city-state at the regional and global levels.
 
According to the MOFA, Taiwan and Singapore enjoy robust ties spanning the areas of culture, economy, education, science and technology and tourism. These became even stronger following the signing in November 2013 of the ASTEP economic cooperation agreement.

It is expected that two-way relations will reach new heights under the government’s New Southbound Policy. A key component of Tsai’s national development strategy, the policy seeks to deepen Taiwan’s agricultural, business, cultural, education, tourism and trade ties with the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, six South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.
 
Halimah, a strong advocate for gender equality, is Singapore’s first ethnic Malay head of state in almost half a century and was elected its first female speaker of parliament in January 2013. She has been a member of parliament since November 2001. (JSM)