BEIJING, April 17 (AFP) - Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui and Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, have forged an alliance to oppose China, the Tibet Daily claimed in a report received here Thursday.

The daily denounced what it called "collusion" between the Dalai Lama and Taiwan separatists in an editorial appearing on its front page.

The Tibetan spiritual leader visited Taiwan at the end of March and was received at an unofficial meeting by Lee.

"China has risen by reason of its prosperity and power to an unprecedented international level" in its history, it said.

"The policy of reform and opening up on the mainland, as well as accords on the return of Hong Kong and Macau, have given China more support on the international scene" and cut off support for pro-independence activists in Taiwan and Tibet, it added.

Hong Kong reverts to Chinese rule July 1, while Macau is to be returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999.

Taiwan is ruled by a Nationalist government that was originally driven from the mainland by the Communists in a civil war ended in 1949. The island is considered a renegade province by China.

China's People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1951 and the Dalai Lama was forced into exile in 1959 after a failed Tibetan uprising aagainst Chinese rule.