Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has told his national security trial that he hoped the US would impose “more draconian sanctions” on China to stop an imminent national security law promulgated by Beijing in mid-2020.

Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, 76, testified in court for the first time on Wednesday in his landmark national security trial, accused of endangering China's national security by colluding with foreign forces.

Former publisher Jimmy Lai has denied that he asked a colleague to draft a list of potential sanction targets in testimony at his landmark national security trial in Hong Kong.

Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying enters his sixth day of his testimony on Thursday at West Kowloon Court as the judges look at his meetings with one of the prosecution witnesses in relation to his national security law charges.

European lawmakers have called for fresh sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials over the prosecution of former media mogul Jimmy Lai, as the trial of the city’s top security law target enters its final stage.

Former Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai is fighting charges of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications.