A member of parliament has demanded that Starbucks close its coffee shop inside Beijing's Forbidden City, according to media reports on Sunday.

Jiang Hongbin said he submitted a motion to the National People's Congress to close the outlet immediately, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The outlet has been a source of controversy since it opened in 2000. The nearly 600-year-old Forbidden City was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties and is now a museum.