TAIPEI, March 27 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama strengthened his hand in his long campaign to win freedom for Tibet during his six-day visit to Taiwan, but China still holds all the cards, analysts said Thursday.

In the full glare of the international spotlight, the exiled Tibetan leader urged China to show reason in a changing world and sit down at the negotiating table.

"After all, the Tibetan problem is neither good for Tibet or China. We have to find an appropriate solution," he added, stressing at every opportunity that he was seeking autonomy rather than independence for his people.

"Through his comments, the Dalai Lama delivered a pragmatic message, saying that he was not promoting independence but autonomy," Professor Pan Hsi-tang, of the mainland affairs research institute of Tamkang University, told AFP.

The exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader's aim was "to clear up misunderstandings with China so that he has wider room for political flexibility," he added.

At every turn, the Dalai Lama sought to appease Beijing, which angrily dubbed the visit a conspiracy of "splittists" aiming to divide up China into their own political fiefdoms.

He said he was ready to meet without preconditions and approved of the "one country, two systems" plan under which China has pledged Hong Kong will be governed after its July 1 return to mainland sovereignty.

And the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 when Chinese forces brutally suppressed an anti-Chinese uprising, appealed directly to the communist leadership in Beijing, saying he was not against communists or the Chinese.

"In the long run this visit could be a new opening to a closer understanding between the two communities. This is what I want to make clear to my brothers and sisters in mainland China," he said Thursday.

Optimistically, the 61-year-old, who has lived most of his life in exile in northern India, even predicted he would live to see exiled Tibetan return to their homeland, adding when that happened he would resign as political leader.

But it seemed, initially at least, his pleas had fallen on deaf ears. In a scathing attack shortly after he left Taiwan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai fired back: "We are opposed to any person using any methods in any place to engage in activities to split the motherland or disrupt ethnic unity," referring to the Dalai Lama's meeting with President Lee Teng-hui.

"Taiwan and Tibet are inseparable parts of China ... anyone who moves against the tide of history will not achieve success," Cui told a scheduled media briefing.

Pan predicted although the attacks on Taiwan and the Dalai Lama would continue, they would decrease in volume.

"Meeting top political leaders in Taiwan could boost the Dalai Lama's bargaining chips in dealing with China, who had believed the trip would not materialise because of Taipei's claim over the mainland, including Tibet," Pan said.

"But China may also feel relieved, since the trip did not generate the political alliances between its two arch foes as it had feared."

By visiting Taiwan, which lays claim to Tibet as part of Chinese territory, the Dalai Lama was also demonstrating he harboured no resentment towards the Taipei leadership, observers said.

However, Pan cautioned China would never deem Tibet an appropriate candidate for the "one country, two systems" formula coined by late Chinese patriarch Deng Xiaoping.

"The 'one country, two systems' was a formula offered to the places which Beijing considers as its territories but under separate control," he said.

"Tibet is under Chinese rule and it is understandable that Beijing would not want to lose its control by permitting autonomy."