"Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Myanmar on January 17 for his first state visit of the year, Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui announced. During the two-day trip, Xi will meet with the country’s defacto leader, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, General Min Aung Hlaing, Luo said at a press conference on Friday. The trip, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Myanmar diplomatic relations, comes as Myanmar faces widespread condemnation over its treatment of its minority Muslim population in western Rakhine State. In an effort to develop already deepening ties, Luo said both sides will seek closer economic cooperation through China’s pan-Eurasian Belt and Road Initiative. He also said Xi plans to raise the repatriation of Rohingya refugees -- more than 730,000 of whom remain in squalid camps just across the border in Bangladesh following what the UN has termed genocidal acts by the military since 2017..." Last month, Suu Kyi appeared in front of the International Court of Justice at the Hague to defend the country’s military against accusations of genocide and crimes against humanity for the killing and rape of thousands of people. “It is an issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh and indeed it is an old question,” Luo said. “At the request of the two countries China has played a constructive role in this regard, including trilateral talks on early repatriation.”..."