What they say

I believe China will allow talented people from overseas to enjoy longer residency and easier access to the country on the premise of ensuring national security.

In the science and technology field that I work in, and especially in Shanghai, where I’m from, international talent cooperation and exchange is the norm. To truly put internationalization into practice, we need to make it easier for foreign talent to come and work in Shanghai, or anywhere else in the country for that matter.

A series of measures, including a 10-article immigration policy that streamlines the application process for senior foreign professionals, have been unveiled in Shanghai to attract more talent from overseas and build the city into a global technological innovation hub by 2030.

According to the 10-article policy implemented in December, expatriates working in the Shanghai Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone or the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone can apply for permanent residency with a recommendation letter from the zones’ administrative committees. They don’t need to provide certificates from other departments anymore.

But I think there is still room for i mprovement. We have seen some of our foreign colleagues benefiting from the policy I mentioned, yet there are other experts from overseas who participate i n other areas of China’s development. Such policies should not be limited solely to those employed in the FTZ.

If such pioneering policies prove to work in Shanghai, they should be expanded nationwide.

minister oftheHealth andFamily PlanningCommission

Li Bin,

XU JINGXING / CHINA DAILY Deputies talk with each other in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, before the second plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 12th National People’s Congress, on Wednesday.

China will increase the number of maternity beds by 89,000 over the next three years to help hospitals cope with the demand resulting from the second-child policy. A “green passage” has also been set up to ensure efficient patient referral and quality...

Zhu Zhiyuan, NPC deputy, head of the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Party chief of ShanghaiTech University