Taipei  - Two of Taiwan's 23 diplomatic allies have asked Taiwan's new President Ma Ying-jeou for aid, catching him by surprise the day after his inauguration, a newspaper said on Thursday.

According to the United Daily News (UDN), the requests were made by Gambian Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy and Burkina Faso's President Blaise Compaore when Ma received them Wednesday afternoon. The two are among the 11 heads of state who came to Taipei to attend Ma's inauguration on Tuesday.

Njie-Saidy passed a letter from Gambian President Yahya AJJ Jameh requesting aid and a delay in payment of past debts, UDN said.

Ma said he would ask the Foreign Ministry to discuss the requests with departments concerned.

Burkina Faso's President Compaore asked that Taiwan build a hospital for the West African nation, among other cooperative projects, when he met with Ma Wednesday afternoon.

Ma, again surprised by the bluntness of the request, said Taipei was willing to offer cooperation projects that could help people of Taiwan's diplomatic allies.

In the past five decades Taiwan has spent billions of US dollars to win diplomatic recognition from foreign countries and to maintain diplomatic ties.

To shake off the dollar-diplomacy label Ma has said that Taiwan will stop using money to maintain a certain number of diplomatic allies and has suggested a "diplomatic truce" with China.

Currently more than 170 countries recognize China while only 23 nations recognize Taiwan, seat of the exiled Republic of China since 1949.

The Taiwan-China feud has benefited some small and poor countries, as some of them have switched back and forth between Taipei and Beijing several times depending who gave more cash and aid. (dpa)