U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the leaders of China and Japan to get together later this week to resolve a spat that has plunged relations to their lowest ebb in 30 years. Annan said on Monday he hoped Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao would meet at the Asia-Africa summit which opens in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday. Relations between the Asian neighbors have soured after recent anti-Japan protests and violence in China. Chinese demonstrators in cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have rallied against Tokyo's bid to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. They are also protesting over a textbook approved by Japan's education ministry that China says whitewashes Japanese wartime atrocities.
