The Dalai Lama left Taiwan Friday after a five-day religious mission that tested the island's rapidly warming relationship with China, AFP reported.
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, whom Beijing labels a "splittist", left from Taoyuan International Airport, outside Taipei, seen off by more than 100 supporters and monks shouting "Long Live Dalai Lama".
The Dalai Lama arrived in Taiwan at the start of the week for a tour primarily aimed at comforting victims of Typhoon Morakot, which battered the island in early August killing at least 614 people.
Although he said repeatedly that his visit was "non-political", China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory, voiced anger and cancelled several delegations to the island, including one led by a deputy central bank governor.
"China overreacted to his visit, which made the Taiwanese people very uncomfortable," the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which invited the Dalai Lama, said Friday in a statement.
Observers argued that short-term tension was inevitable, but that it would not have a longer-term effect because both self-ruled Taiwan and China had too much to lose.
"The Dalai Lama's trip will cause the relationship to cool on the surface, with Beijing cutting down some activities," said Hsu Yung-ming, a political scientist at Taipei's Soochow University.
"But in the long term, the development in ties across the Taiwan Straits will not be affected because it would be bad for both sides."
Taiwan and China are too entangled in global trade arrangements for there to be anything other than cordial relations, argued Tang Yonghong, an economist at southeast China's Xiamen University.
"Since they are both members of the World Trade Organisation, Taiwan and mainland China must assume the responsibility of implementing economic normalisation," he said.
The Apple Daily in Taipei said excessive criticism of the Dalai Lama could backfire on China.
"The more China uses all its resources to suppress a smiling monk, the more international sympathy and welcome he will get," it argued in an editorial.
The Dalai Lama's trip came at an awkward time for Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government as it seeks to improve ties and benefit from the explosive growth of the mainland's huge economy.
The Dalai Lama's visit coincided with a massive upgrade in civilian air links between Taiwan and China, with the number of weekly flights rising to 270 from 104.
In an apparent attempt to avoid upsetting China further, President Ma Ying-jeou and other senior members of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party avoided meeting the Nobel laureate.
This marked a departure from the Dalai Lama's two previous visits to Taiwan, in 1997 and 2001, when he was received by several ranking politicians.
"Not one KMT official or politician had the courage to meet the Dalai Lama -- an all-too-clear demonstration of where the party's loyalties lie," said the English-language Taipei Times.
Despite the criticism voiced by China over his trip, the Dalai Lama expressed hope on his last day in Taiwan that he might one day be able to go to Tibet.
"We are always ready to go back to Tibet. Of course, every Tibetan always thinks that way," he told reporters at the airport as he prepared to depart.
The 74-year-old was responding to a question from AFP on whether he thought he would ever be able to return to his Himalayan homeland, which he left half a century ago at the end of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.