BEIJING, March 28 (Reuter) - China on Friday slammed a visit to Taiwan by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as a dangerous step toward splitting the motherland.

The Dalai Lama on Thursday met Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui before ending his first visit to the Nationalist-ruled island with an appeal to its people and his own Himalayan followers to seek compromise with communist China.

But the conciliatory tone taken by the monk, Beijing's greatest rival for Tibetan loyalties, did little to dent condemnation of his visit from China's propaganda mandarins.

"It is common public opinion that this trip of the Dalai (Lama) harbours evil intentions," said an official editorial carried by the Xinhua news agency and China News Service.

Separatist-inclined officials on Taiwan, which China considers a rebel province, had used the Dalai Lama's visit for political ends while trying to disguise it as a religious event, the editorial said.

"The Dalai's visit is against the background of the increasingly rampant splittism on the island," it said.

"The Taiwan authorities have taken an extremely dangerous step on the road of separating the country, and the splittist forces on the island have already collaborated with the 'Tibet Independence' forces," it said.

China condemns both Taiwan President Lee and the Dalai Lama, who fled to India after an abortive uprising in Tibet against Beijing rule in 1959, as would-be separatists who want to split China.

Lee says he still hopes for Taiwan's eventual reunification with the rest of China, its arch-enemy since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, but stresses that the mainland must first develop democracy.

The Dalai Lama, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his peaceful camapaign for Tibetan autonomy, says he is not fighting for independence but that his region needs genuine self-rule to prevent the annihilation of its ancient Buddhist culture.