Taipei, March 8 (CNA)
Taiwan's representative to Switzerland Hsieh Fa-dah has been appointed as the country's new representative to Singapore, Foreign Minister Timothy Yang said Thursday.
Singapore officials have said they welcome this new appointment, said Yang at a press conference in Taipei, adding that it will probably take two to three months before Hsieh assumes the new post.
While serving as vice minister of Economics Affairs, Hseih participated in talks under the Agreement between Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Partnership (ASTEP).
Yang confirmed ASTEP talks are ongoing and will be one of Hsieh's main responsibilities in the future.
The two countries have their own perspectives on the economic partnership, but at the current stage everything is going smoothly and in accordance to existing foundations, said Hsieh in a separate telephone interview with CNA.
Hsieh also rebutted rumors that there was friction between Taiwan and Singapore, pointing out that former Taiwan representative to Singapore Vanessa Shih has already made it clear that any reports saying her actions upset Singapore authorities were not true.
"It is normal for two sides to have different views on certain issues, and diplomats need to be able to face these difficulties, try to coordinate matters and resume normal development of bilateral relations," said Hsieh.
(By Tsao Yu-fan, Chen Pei-huang and C.J. Lin)
ENDITEM/npw
