Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim congratulated Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, on her appointment during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday.

Takaichi was recently elected the country’s first female Prime Minister.

Ibrahim, who is chairing the ASEAN summit, commended Takaichi's win against some "remarkable men".

Just days after taking office, Japan's new leader faces a series of back-to-back foreign policy tests, with a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Tokyo sandwiched between Asia-region summits in Malaysia and South Korea.

Takaichi, with limited experience in international affairs, will have to manage Trump's demands and unpredictability and China's wariness of her strong support for a military build-up and her right-wing views on Japan's invasion of China before and during World War II.

She arrived in Malaysia on Saturday for meetings with Southeast Asian leaders, then returned to Japan to meet Trump before heading to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit at the end of the week.