The Trump administration is sanctioning six Chinese and Hong Kong officials, including the city’s justice secretary and police commissioner, in the latest steps to target authorities implementing Beijing’s hard-line policies.

But Hong Kong's newly appointed police chief Joe Chow said the U.S. sanctions were "barbaric" and proved Hong Kong's national security work had been successful and effective. "This means we should do even more," Chow told reporters.

The U.S. sanctioned six senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials on Monday, citing "transnational repression" and further erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy in the Trump administration's first major move to punish China for a crackdown on the financial hub.

China staged military drills off Taiwan's north, south and east coasts as a "stern warning" against separatism and called Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te a "parasite," as Taiwan sent warships to respond to China's navy approaching its shores.

Taiwan has lived under the threat of Chinese invasion since 1949 when the defeated Republic of China government fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, though the two sides have not exchanged fire in anger for decades.

A military aircraft is seen on a giant screen showing news footage about joint army, navy, air and rocket forces drills around Taiwan by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), outside a shopping mall in Beijing,