"Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Myanmar on Friday on his first trip to the country since 2009 and is expected to step up investment in the Southeast Asian nation including in the conflict-racked state of Rakhine, a key link in China's Belt and Road initiative. Myanmar's Deputy Minister of Commerce Aung Htoo told reporters before the visit that Xi would sign agreements related to the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and $1.3bn port in Rakhine, where a brutal military crackdown in 2017 led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh. More: Myanmar's women trafficked to China at risk of sexual violence ICJ to rule on emergency measures in Myanmar genocide case China invests billions in Myanmar "Xi has visited almost all ASEAN countries since assuming power in 2013, but Myanmar had been left out until now," Yun Sun, director of the China programme at the Stimson Center, said in an email to Al Jazeera..."