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Anti-Japan activist

detained, vows

hunger strike

BEIJING: A leading campaigner for compensation for Chinese victims of Japan's wartime aggression has been detained by Chinese police and vowed to go on hunger strike, sources close to the activist said on Wednesday.

Three public security officers took Tong Zeng from his Beijing home late on Tuesday, his niece and a colleague said.

The officers gave no reason for detaining Tong, who has collected signatures of 800,000 people demanding Japan apologise for its actions in World War Two and compensate victims.

"Tong Zeng telephoned and asked me to tell his son not not (eds: correct) to eat -- a code word that he will go on hunger strike," Tong's colleague, Li Dingguo, said in a telephone interview.

The Ministry of Public Security declined to comment on whether Tong was detained and on a hunger strike.

A group of Chinese war victims, led by Tong, were forced to cancel a trip to Tokyo this week after they failed to obtain visas.

On Monday, their lawyers filed the first lawsuit in Japan by Chinese war victims demanding compensation for injuries suffered at the hands of Japanese soldiers during the invasion from 1937 to 1945. The 10 victims sought 20 million yen ($220,000) each.

China dropped all official demands for compensation when it established diplomatic relations with Japan in 1972.

The Chinese government said recently it would not stand in the way of private citizens seeking redress for war injuries, but it appears to be reluctant to antagonise Japan, its largest trading partner and a major creditor, and has obstructed the activities of campaign activists.

Chinese authorities confiscated Tong's passport last month and have barred him from taking part in the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Forum on Women, to be held in Beijing from August 30 to September 8.

On Monday, Chinese police stormed and broke up a news conference where an elderly "comfort woman" wept as she related her ordeal as a sex slave for Japanese soldiers in World War Two.

Li, vice-president of the private Committee for Chinese Civilians Seeking Compensation from Japan, said he was released late on Tuesday after being detained for 24 hours after police broke up the the news conference.

While in detention, police questioned Li twice as to why he organised the news conference, Li said, adding that he told police it was to demand justice from Japan.

"They admitted that I did nothing wrong except that I failed to seek approval to hold the news conference," Li said.

"They were very embarrassed. They could not do anything to me," he said. "I did nothing to harm the Chinese government or people."

Li said he would continue with his work to help war victims seeks compensation from Japan.

According to China's count, 35 million Chinese were killed or injured by Japanese troops during their war.-Reuter