Chinese victims of Japanese World War Two atrocities plan to file compensation claims in China after years of suits in Japan failed to find redress, a newspaper said yesterday.

Five law firms had come to the aid of a China association seeking compensation and would help file a claim in the coming days on behalf of Chinese forced into labour during the war, the Beijing Times said.

Resentment towards Japan runs deep in China for Japan?s invasion and occupation of parts of the country from 1931-1945, with bilateral ties hitting a low during nationwide anti-Japanese protests in April last year.

Dozens of apology and compensation claims by Chinese who were injured, many by chemical weapons, or who were used as sex slaves or as forced labour during the war have been filed in Japan, either against the government or private companies.

But none of the more than 20 cases since the early 1990s had ended in success, Tong Zeng, a campaigner for the cause and chairman of the non-government Chinese Association for Claiming Compensation from Japan, was quoted yesterday as saying.

?The likelihood of us winning the cases in the Japanese courts, influenced by right-wing forces who show no remorse at all, is very small? the Beijing Times quoted Tong as saying.

The Japanese government insists that the issue of war reparations was settled by the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, that formally ended the war, and by later bilateral treaties. It says all wartime compensation issues concerning China were settled by a 1972 joint statement establishing diplomatic ties.

But Chinese courts also had jurisdiction over the claims and could hand down more fair verdicts ? by trial in absentia if necessary, Tong was quoted as saying, adding the number of the lawsuits might jump due to the lower cost.

Last week, a group of 40 Chinese who say they were wounded or lost relatives as a result of Japanese bombing of Chongqing sued the Japanese government in Japan, as a court turned down another suit by 45 Chinese who were taken to Japan for forced labour during the war.

Bilateral ties are at their lowest in decades, particularly due to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi?s visits to the Yasukuni Shrine honouring the country?s 2.5 million war dead along with convicted war criminals, and present-day rivalry for regional influence and resources.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in Beijing on Friday, expressing willingness to hold talks with Koizumi, who has never visited China since taking office in 2001, if he stopped the shrine pilgrimages.

China and Japan also signed an agreement in Beijing on Sunday on mutual assistance and cooperation in law enforcement, information exchange, technical cooperation and personnel training between their customs departments, the official Xinhua news agency said.