By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, July 24 (Reuter) - Beijing residents polled by Reuters on Monday said they would back a Chinese invasion of rival Taiwan if it declared independence, adding they felt the island ruled by the Nationalists for nearly five decades was Chinese soil. "We Chinese feel that Taiwan is a part of the motherland," said a technician, commenting after Beijing test-fired missiles off the island in an apparent show of strength to cow any pro-independence moves.

Beijing's communist rulers and Taipei's Nationalist government have been rivals since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and only began to allow unofficial contacts after decades of Cold War-style silence in the late 1980s. Both China and Taiwan say they want reunification but differ on how to achieve it.

China, which views Taiwan as a rebel province, will not allow the island to become independent because that would risk disintegration as in the former Soviet Union, an academic said. "If Taiwan becomes independent, Tibet could be next, then (northwestern) Xinjiang, then Inner Mongolia," said the academic who asked not to be identified. "Disintegration is the government's worst fear," he said.

Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui enraged China by making a private visit to the United States in June, prompting Beijing to carry out a week of missile tests from last Friday just north of the island. China maintains it will use force against Taiwan if it declares independence.

"Even if the people of Taiwan want independence, we could never allow it," the technician said. "This is an issue of sovereignty. It would be like stealing a part of our nation."

Taiwan said on Monday four Chinese missiles, either M-9 or M-11 rockets, were launched from eastern Jiangxi province and fired towards a target area north of the island on Friday and Saturday.

A retired Chinese diplomat said the Chinese would throw their weight behind any government decision to invade if Taiwan opted for independence. "No one in China will oppose liberating Taiwan if it declared independence," he said. "Taiwan is an issue China's leaders can easily rally the people around."

The issue of Taiwan is an emotive one, and many seemed prepared to shed blood to prevent the island from bolting. "Invasion is the worst of the worst plans," Zhang Youping, a 25-year-old accountant said. "It's best to peacefully settle the Taiwan problem. But if it cannot be peacefully settled, the government should resort to force," she said.

Zhang Tongyu, 30, an artist, was for reunification at any cost. "I'm for eventual reunification no matter what the means, no matter what the method," he said. "Some things, you just don't have a choice."