Shanghai deputies arrive in Beijing for annual meeting

The National People's Congress deputies from Shanghai arrived in Beijing to present their motions and suggestions at the country's top annual legislative meeting on Wednesday.

The topics of the motions include permanent monitoring of the epidemic, public emergency response, online economy and the integration of the Yangtze River Delta.

Deputy Liu Yan, who is also the vice president of the No 9 People's Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus has exposed the shortcomings of the current Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases Law.

"The current law lacks articles for unknown diseases that are infectious to the masses, and the protection of individual privacy needs to be improved," she said.

Deputy Gao Yun, the Party chief of Shanghai Huangpu district, said he will submit a motion to introduce a law that protects and promotes Chinese time-honored brands. Gao noted that the copyrights of such brands are often infringed as they lack legal protection.

Deputy Zhang Weimin, deputy manager of Eastbest & Lansheng Group Shanghai International Trade Promotion Co, said he will propose that the government, private companies and industry associations work together to host online exhibitions.

"We should innovate the exhibition industry to recoup the loss caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, and new ways of exhibition will 'reboot' the industry and turn the disaster into an opportunity," he said.