Taipei - More than 500 foreign dignitaries arrived Monday to attend the Tuesday inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou as president.

The foreign guests include one king, eight presidents, three prime ministers two governor-generals, the Foreign Ministry said.

All the foreign leaders and ranking officials come from the 23 countries which recognize Taiwan, while countries which do not recognize Taiwan have also sent congratulatory delegations.

The two biggest delegations come from the United States and Japan - numbering 120 and 76 respectively. The US and Japan maintain close political, military and trade ties with Taipei despite lack of official ties.

Ma will be sworn in at the Taipei Arena at 11 am (0300 GMT) Tuesday, and acording to his aides, he will express goodwill to China in his inauguration speech.

In the afternoon, the foreign guests will ride the high-speed train from Taipei to Kaohsiung in south Taiwan for Ma's inauguration banquet, held at the Grand Hanlai Hotel in Kaohsiung.

Ma, 57, from the pro-China Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), won a landslide victory in the March 22 presidential polls, bringing KMT back to power. The KMT ruled Taiwan from 1949 until 2000 when it lost power to the Taiwan natives' pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). (dpa)