'Two tigers can live on one mountain'

BEIJING - The "two tigers" in the region can coexist as long as they make efforts to be friends with each other, said Akashi Yasushi, former United Nations undersecretary-general, on Monday.

Yasushi, who is now chairman of the board of trustees of the non-profit, non-political organization, International House of Japan, stressed that Japan is geographically an Asian country, so Japan and China need to establish a crisis management mechanism as soon as possible to reduce disputes that might harm Sino-Japanese relations.

"There is a difference on how to recognize the United States' presence in the region, and this is one of the reasons why there is a lack of mutual trust between the two countries on security issues," he said.