Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will only be welcome at Beijing's commemorations of the end of the Second World War if he is "sincere" about history, China's foreign minister said Sunday in a finger-wagging denunciation.

Relations between the Asian powers have plunged over issues including territorial disputes and Japan's 19th- and 20th-century invasions, with China's Communist Party regularly stoking nationalism as part of its claim to a right to rule.

Unlike the former Soviet Union, China does not hold major annual military parades, but has announced plans for one to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Beijing has not given a specific date for the parade, but it regards September 3, the day after Japan signed its formal surrender to Allied forces on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, as victory day.

Asked whether Abe would be invited, foreign minister Wang Yi told a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp parliament: "We will extend invitations to the leaders of all relevant countries and international organisations."

But he added: "We welcome the participation of anyone who is sincere about coming."

China's foreign ministry regularly urges Japan to "show sincerity" over history, signalling that it does not believe Tokyo does so.

The wider conflict is known in China as the World Anti-Fascist War, with the struggle against Tokyo's Imperial forces officially called the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

"This issue has been haunting the China-Japan relationship," Wang said, pointing his index finger in the air and recalling the words of an elder Chinese diplomat: "The more the victimiser is conscious of his guilt, the easier the victimised can recover from their suffering."

"Those in power in Japan should first ask themselves, what they have done on this score," he went on. "Of course the people of the world will reach their own conclusion. 70 years ago, Japan lost the war, 70 years afterwards, Japan must not lose its conscience.

"Will it continue to carry the baggage of history, or will it make a clean break with past aggression? Ultimately, the choice is Japan's."

- Past apologies -

A meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Abe after an Asia-Pacific summit in Beijing in November was meant to clear the air but was instead marked by the brevity of the two men's handshake and their disdainful body language.

Abe has said he will release a fresh statement on World War II this year, but will "in general" stand by previous apologies for wartime misdeeds.

An official 1995 apology by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said Japan "through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations", adding the premier felt "deep remorse" and offered a "heartfelt apology".

Japanese right-wingers would like the statement revoked, something that Abe is under huge international pressure to avoid.

But the nationalist premier has equivocated on Japan's guilt for its formalised system of sex slavery.

The commemorations for the end of the war were "perfectly natural and normal", Wang said.

"Our goal is to remember history, commemorate the martyrs, cherish peace and look to the future," he said.