Strange artifacts on PDF output (when a line is in close proximity to a box)

Hello all,

I am hoping that someone can suggest a solution for this purplexing issue.

I have a rectangle (actually occurs on similar rectangle image boxes or text boxes) that connects to a line (Japanese Dots). Whenever the line is near the rectangle, their is a faint but noticable white line surrounding the rectangle.

When I initiate EDIT mode in Adobe Acrobat, it reveals that the PDF output/distilled version is introducing this artifact by separating part of the image into a 'chunk'. The artifact (or white line) is the border surrounding this image chunk!

Also, it is important to add that if I move the line away from the rectangle, the faint white line vanishes.

Please see attachment.

Any ideas about how to fix this?