XMLEncoder produces less human readable XML in java 7 compared to java 6

Question

Here is a simple example demonstrating the problem:

Consider the two bean classes Alpha and Beta:

public class Alpha {
    private String name;
    private Beta beta;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public Beta getBeta() {
        return beta;
    }

    public void setBeta(Beta beta) {
        this.beta = beta;
    }
}


public class Beta {
    private Alpha alpha;

    public Alpha getAlpha() {
        return alpha;
    }

    public void setAlpha(Alpha alpha) {
        this.alpha = alpha;
    }
}

Then instances of Alpha and Beta are created, and the Alpha object is written to XML:

Alpha alpha = new Alpha();
Beta beta = new Beta();

alpha.setBeta(beta);
alpha.setName("Rama");
beta.setAlpha(alpha);

XMLEncoder encoder = new XMLEncoder(new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("file.xml")));
encoder.writeObject(alpha);
encoder.close();

In java 6 this results in the following XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<java version="1.6.0_24" class="java.beans.XMLDecoder">
 <object id="Alpha0" class="dk.kruger.Alpha">
  <void property="beta">
   <object class="dk.kruger.Beta">
    <void property="alpha">
     <object idref="Alpha0"/>
    </void>
   </object>
  </void>
  <void property="name">
   <string>Rama</string>
  </void>
 </object>
</java>

But in java 7 the result is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<java version="1.7.0_07" class="java.beans.XMLDecoder">
 <object class="dk.kruger.Alpha" id="Alpha0">
  <void property="beta">
   <object class="dk.kruger.Beta">
    <void property="alpha">
     <object idref="Alpha0">
      <void property="name">
       <string>Rama</string>
      </void>
     </object>
    </void>
   </object>
  </void>
 </object>
</java>

The XML generated by java 7 is much less human readable than the java 6 XML (especially, of course, for more complex examples). In the example above, the java 7 encoder defines the "name" property of "alpha" inside the definition of "beta", because "beta" also has a reference to "alpha". This behavior may result in deeply nested and ugly XML.

Is there a way to make the XML encoder in java 7 produce XML in java 6 style?