Leaders of Japan, China Try to End Dispute

JAKARTA- The leaders of Japan and China met Saturday in an effort to end a dispute over Japan's World War II aggression that has badly damaged relations between the two Asian powers and alarmed their neighbors.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao smiled and shook hands before sitting down to begin the talks, which were closed to the media.

The meeting lasted 55 minutes. Koizumi told reporters it was a "very good meeting," as he left the venue.

The meeting is the first top-level discussion since massive anti-Japanese protests erupted earlier this month in major Chinese cities over Tokyo's approval of school textbooks that China claims play down wartime atrocities.