Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday Japan must face up to history, on the 80th anniversary of its surrender in the Second World War.

Wang said the war of aggression by Japanese militarists brought serious disasters to the people of China and other Asian countries, adding that Japanese people suffered as well.

The foreign minister said certain forces in Japan today still try to distort history and downplay its wartime atrocities, challenging the United Nations Charter and the post-war international order.

"Only by facing up to history can one earn respect; only by learning from history can one chart a better future; only by remembering the past can we avoid repeating the same mistakes," Wang told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kunming.

"We urge Japan to make the right choice."

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

South Korea on Friday also marked the 80th anniversary of its liberation from Japanese colonial rule. (Additional reporting by Reuters)