The French female writer heading west for Asian republic (5)
I believe the answer is:
nepal
'asian republic' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the french female writer heading west' is the wordplay.
'the french female' becomes 'la' (feminine version of 'the' in French).
'writer' becomes 'pen' (I've seen this before).
'heading west' says the letters should be written backwards.
'la'+'pen'='lapen'
'lapen' in reverse letter order is 'NEPAL'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for nepal that I've seen before include "Himalayan state" , "Himalayan republic" , "Asian country, capital Kathmandu" , "Himalayan kingdom" , "World's only Hindu kingdom" .)