Japan's second big helicopter carrier, the Kaga, entered service yesterday, giving the nation's military greater ability to deploy beyond its shores as it pushes back against China's growing influence in Asia.

Accompanied by a military band, Maritime Self Defense Force commanders took possession of the 248-meter-long vessel at the Japan Marine United shipyard in Yokohama near Tokyo, where it was docked next to its sister ship the Izumo.

"China is attempting to make changes in the South China Sea with bases and through acts that exert pressure is altering the status quo, raising security concerns among the international community," Vice Minister of Defense Takayuki Kobayashi said at the ceremony attended by about 500 people

Japan's two biggest warships since World War II are potent symbols of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to give the military a bigger international role. They are designated as helicopter destroyers to keep within the bounds of a war-renouncing constitution that bars possession of offensive weapons.

In its biggest show of naval power in foreign waters in over 70 years, Japan plans to dispatch the Izumo in May on a three-month tour through the South China Sea, sources with knowledge of the plan said.

REUTERS