TAIPEI, March 19 (AFP) - Taiwan may be speeding up preparations for the historic six-day visit of the Dalai Lama, but the nationalist island Wednesday remained divided over the controversial trip.

Beijing has reacted angrily to the visit, claiming it is proof of the collaboration between the Dalai Lama and Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, both of whom have been branded as separatists by China.

On Monday Chang King-yuh, chairman of Tawain's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), told parliament he feared "the visit would ... have an impact on the ties with mainland China."

Relations between Taiwan and China, bitter rivals since the end of a civil war in 1949, had improved since the late 1980s until Lee made a landmark visit to the United States in mid-1995.

Chang downplayed the Dalai Lama's visit which starts on Saturday, insisting the spiritual leader was a citizen of the Republic of China the official title of Taiwan and should not be treated as a state guest.

"The government has not made any concession on the issue," Chang stressed, adding Taipei has not acknowledged the Dalai Lama's exiled government.

But the official China Daily accused Lee and the Dalai Lama of working to divide the country.

"Both men are struggling for the same goal which is splitting China," it said in a vehement editorial.

"They do not really care about the interests of the people living in Tibet and Taiwan and the fate of the nation," it added.

The Dalai Lama's brother Gyalo Thondup downplayed Beijing's protest saying he had already briefed China about the trip.

"I have reported details to the Beijing authorities on the Dalai Lama's Taiwan visit," said Thondup, who has acted as a go-between to set up the unprecedented visit.

He said the Chinese authorities had reacted "reasonably well" to the planned trip despite some criticisms.

Both Beijing and Taipei claim they are the sole legitimate government of China, and that Tibet is part of Chinese territory.

The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959 following an abortive anti-Chinese uprising.

The China Daily charged Wednesday: "The Dalai Lama acts under the guise of religion and Lee pursues his goals by playing politics...but they should wake up from their fantasy of splitting China.

"Anyone who goes too far along the separatist road will surely be dealt a deadly blow in the end," it warned.

The ruling Kuomintang and pro-unification New Party have shared Chang's cautious approach, but the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) called on the government to treat the Dalai Lama as a state guest.

Lee Chin-yung, a DPP parliamentary whip, made no secret of his party's intention to use the trip to underscore the policies of the island's main opposition party.

He said the government should allow the Tibetan exiled government to set up an official mission to "provide a communications channel for Taiwan and Tibet in fighting the Chinese communist hegemony."

President Lee Teng-hui told DPP deputies Tuesday he would meet the Dalai Lama, but the presidential office in an apparent low-key gesture not to irk Beijing remained tight-tipped on the impending encounter.

In an apparent bid to appease Beijing's wrath, the Dalai Lama released a statement March 13 saying his visit to Taiwan from March 22 to March 27 was "purely religious."

Despite the internal squabbles over the distinguished guest's sensitive status, the preparations for the trip are already shifting into high gear.

More than 80,000 admission tickets for the Dalai Lama prayer meetings in southern and northern Taiwan have been snapped up, according to the Buddhist Association which is to host the trip.

The Dalai Lama's first port of call will be the Fu Kuang Temple, a Buddhist center in Kaohsiung county on Saturday.

Then on Sunday he will visit a Tibetan temple in the southern city of Tainan and a local temple in Kaohsiung county. He is also due to receive honorary doctorate degree at Chungshan University in Kaohsiung before flying to Taipei.

During his stay in Taipei he will meet with religious leaders, before returning to India on March 27.