HONG KONG — China carried out live-fire military drills in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, its state news media reported, an exercise intended to show the growing strength of its navy and deliver a message to self-governed Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

The war games were the first in the Taiwan Strait since 2016, Chinese state television reported. They were held in a two-square-mile area that includes two islets off the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province. That area is about 125 miles west of the city of Hsinchu on Taiwan’s west coast.

China has been increasing pressure on Taiwan in recent months, while the United States has taken steps to show support for the island, a longtime ally. While the drills Wednesday were most likely planned long in advance, they come at a time when the United States and China are increasingly at odds over a number of issues besides Taiwan, particularly trade.

Liu Jieyi, the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said this week that the exercises were being planned with Taiwan in mind. “Our military exercises are carried out to protect the sovereignty of our motherland and territorial integrity,” he told reporters Monday on the sidelines of a cross-strait business conference in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.