Japanese warship visits Sri Lanka

Japan's largest warship, the Kaga helicopter carrier, sailed into Sri Lanka's Colombo harbour this weekend, marking Tokyo's highest profile salvo in a diplomatic battle with China for influence along the region's vital commercial sea lanes.

Japan has long provided low-interest loans and aid to Sri Lanka, helping it transform Colombo into a major trans-shipment port tapping the artery of global trade just south of the island that links Europe and the Middle East with Asia.

Beijing has, however, emerged as a powerful rival across South Asia and beyond as it implements its Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Both China and Japan are also flexing their military muscles further from home. China's navy is increasingly venturing beyond the Western Pacific and into the Indian Ocean as it targets a world-class blue water fleet by 2050.

"Japan's government is promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific and this deployment in the Asia Pacific is a component of that strategy," Rear Admiral Tatsuya Fukuda, the commander of the Kaga and its destroyer escort, said in his cabin as the carrier steamed for Colombo through the Indian Ocean.

"Maritime security and stability is of critical importance" to an island nation like Japan, he added.

On its way to Sri Lanka, the 248 metre ship was shadowed by Chinese frigates in the South China Sea and carried out naval drills in the Philippines and Indonesia. It also drilled with a British Navy frigate before docking in Colombo on Sunday.