BEIJING — An armada of Chinese and Russian warships sailed in ceremonial formation in the Sea of Japan, off the port of Vladivostok, on Wednesday in what was the high point of joint naval exercises intended to show the growing unity between two countries with a historically uneasy relationship.

China hailed the exercises as its military’s largest deployment for maneuvers with a foreign country. State-run news media gave widespread coverage to the action, which included live firing drills.

The commander of the Chinese fleet, Maj. Gen. Yang Junfei, told Chinese reporters that the goal was to strengthen “strategic trust” and improve coordination between the two navies.

From Beijing’s point of view, there was a message for Washington, too: As China rapidly builds its maritime power and the United States begins to deploy more of its naval and air assets back to the Pacific Ocean as part of its new focus on Asia, China will not stand alone.