China and South Korea have expressed opposition to Japan over possible visits by its cabinet members to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on August 15, the day that marks Japan's surrender in World War II.

South Korean foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-yong said Tuesday that there should be no trips to the Yasukuni Shrine by any top Japanese officials.

Cho's remarks came after his Chinese counterpart Hua Chunying said last week that such visits are trying to deny the history of Japan's militarism and invasion of other countries.

Kyodo News reported earlier that Japanese minister Keiji Furuya may visit the shrine together with at least two other members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet.

Sources told AFP that Abe will not visit the shrine on August 15, but has defended the rights of other leaders to visit the site.

South Korea and China both insist that official visits to the site are a calculated affront to those countries that suffered under Japan's imperialist aggression.

The shrine honors some 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted Class-A war criminals.

"Japan is regressing in its recognition of history," Hu Lingyuan, a professor at the Center for Japanese Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.

"Those politicians want to inspire a sense of national pride among its people, but they should first face history honestly," Hu said.

"East Asian countries should stay alert to the right-leaning trend seen in Japanese politics," Lu Jianren, a researcher with the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Abe will meet with Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and they will discuss bilateral cooperation in dealing with China, Kyodo reported.

The US Senate earlier passed a bill without legal force over the territorial disputes in Asia-Pacific waters, covering China's disputes over the Diaoyu Islands with Japan.

China and Japan on Monday quietly marked the 35th anniversary of the signing of the treaty of peace and friendship, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry saying that the two countries should properly deal with the current difficulties "in a spirit of taking history as a mirror and looking ahead to the future."