On July 8, 2016, Mr. Takuya Kobayashi, Staff Writer of the Shimbun Akahata (Newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party) Beijing Bureau visited SIIS. He had a discussion with Prof. Wu Jinan, Dr. Xue Chen, Dr. Cai Liang, and Dr. Zhou Shixin on the Senate election in Japan and its impact on Japan’s political situation, China’s reaction on the South China Sea Arbitration and the impact of the Arbitration on China-ASEAN relations.