Our reporter You Yang spoke to Professor Li Yuan of Shandong University about Abe's political legacy and the potential impacts of the attack.

The attack on Shinzo Abe comes ahead of the upper house elections in Japan scheduled for July 10. The former prime minister was campaigning for a candidate from his Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP. So, who's against Abe's political agenda?

PROFESSOR LI YUAN School of Northeast Asia Studies, Shandong University "Shinzo Abe belongs to Japan's political right-wing campaign. He had been taking a rather conservative, hardline political path. Thus I believe in the Japanese society, many left-wing politicians and those in the public with more liberal political thoughts would oppose some of his policies."

Abe is Japan's longest-serving prime minister, who held the office for almost eight years. He's been hailed for his economic policies known as "Abenomics". But his party was plagued by scandals and he was accused of mishandling the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

PROFESSOR LI YUAN School of Northeast Asia Studies, Shandong University "In terms of international relations, Abe's supporters say his legacy was a stronger US-Japan relationship. But his repeated visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which houses the remains of several war criminals, angered neighbors South Korea and China. I think with his death, the Japanese government is going to re-think those agendas proposed by Abe and look for more solutions regarding those issues left by him."

Shinzo Abe stands for Japan's political blue blood. He is the grandson of former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi-who was also attacked in 1960.

As for Abe's attack, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says it will not affect the on-going campaign events for the House of Councilors' elections.

PROFESSOR LI YUAN School of Northeast Asia Studies, Shandong University "Talking about the impact of his death, I think for Japanese people, it would be definitely a huge shock. The move of assassination should be absolutely condemned. And for Japanese politics, first for LDP, they have indeed lost a strong, and influential leader, so they have to find out their political path without Abe's presence. And for the opposition party, they could have more space to carry out their ideas on some political issues, such as Abe's willing to rewrite the pacifist constitution, as well as the country's economic strategy, etc."

YOU YANG Beijing "As the longest-serving prime minister in Japan, there is no doubt that Shinzo Abe has had a strong influence on LDP as well as on the Japanese society. With the ruling party struggling to keep a majority of the seats in the upper house with its coalition partner this time, no matter what the results will be, the attack on Abe has already overshadowed campaign events and Japanese politics. You Yang, CGTN, Beijing."