VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

After a long feud, the United States is trying to improve relations with China through a diplomatic approach. At least, that's what the latest developments in Washington-Beijing relations show.

Efforts to overcome the disharmony of relations between the two countries should be marked by the visit of the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman to China this weekend.

Recently, there has been an escalation of tensions between Washington and Beijing regarding various sensitive issues. The United States, for example, has again questioned the Chinese government's human rights violations against the Uygur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. The United States Senate has even decided to ban imports from Xinjiang because there are suspicions that the Chinese government has carried out forced labor for Uygur Muslims.

The visit of Wendy Sherman, came from  an agreement with China on July 21, 2021 on the basis of consideration of the need for stability in relations between the two countries. The Chinese government, as said by its foreign ministry  spokesman, Zhao Lijian, welcomed the visit and talks as a forum for consultation on various issues. However, Beijing has indicated it will resolutely refuse to discuss its internal affairs, particularly on policies in Xinjiang and principles regarding Taiwan.

On Monday (26/7) China's Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng urged the United States to stop cursing and demonizing China. Xie made this remark during talks with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who is on a visit to the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin from July 25 to 26. Xie even said, relations between the two countries are at an impasse and face serious difficulties, basically because the US considers China a “shadow enemy.” (https://www.tribunnews.com International Asia)

Based on that statement, it can be estimated that the restoration of good relations between China and the United States will still require time and further approaches. However, tensions and conflicts should indeed be addressed. This is important because the feud of two big countries that have an impact on geopolitics and the world economy, can have an impact on other countries.

The Ministry of Cooperatives and Micro Small Medium Businesses (MSMEs) signed a Memorandum of Understanding -MoU with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) on Coordination of Duty and Authority Implementation in Partnership Supervision on Monday (26/7). The scope of the MoU includes task force formation, data and information exchange, expert support, coordination, advocation, information dissemination, and other activities agreed by both sides.

On the occasion, Minister of Cooperatives and MSMEs, Teten Masduki said that based on the Micro and Small Industries Survey by the Statistics Indonesia (BPS), 93 percent of the MSMEs in Indonesia do not establish partnership with big companies. To develop further, MSMEs actually need to partner with big companies. He also warned about MSMEs being "devoured" by big companies.

Minister Teten Masduki added that Indonesian MSMEs often lose the competition online and offline because they lack of production capacity and competitiveness values. Therefore, the ministry will prepare Indonesian MSMEs to join in the supply chain concept.

He further remarked that Indonesian MSMEs can follow the MSMEs abroad so that their products are not always chips, crackers, and dodol but shifting into industrial components, such as products of automotive, and electronics.

Minister Teten hopes that the ministry's cooperation with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission can be used to provide education for MSMEs partnering with big companies in creating a healthy competition and encouraging national economic restoration.

When traveling to Situbondo district, you will find a tourism village of Kampung Blekok. Kampung Blekok is one of the conservation-based nature tourism areas. The location is in Pesisir hamlet, Klatakan village, Kendit district, Situbondo regency, East Java.This tourism area, since 2017, through the Situbondo Regent's Regulation on Biodiversity Conservation, has been designated as a mangrove area inhabited by ardidae water birds or called blekok birds by the local community. Another advantage of this tourist village is the landscape with beautiful mountain and sea views to see at sunset.

The tourist village of Kampung Blekok has an area of 6.3 hectares. It is estimated that the number of mangrove stands in Blekok Village is 12,600 trees. There are 10 types of mangrove trees, namely Soneratia Alba, Rhizophora Mucronata, Rhizophora Stylosa, Rhizophora Apiculata, Avicennia Alba, Avicennia Marina, Acanthus Ilicifoius, excoecaria Agallocha, and Hibiscus Tiliaceus.Meanwhile, there are 11 species of water birds found in Blekok Village, namely Red Herons, Great Egrets, Small Egrets, Buffalo Egrets, Ash Night Herons, Blekok Rice Fields, Sea Kokokan, Rice Kareo, Pengala Elephants, Beach Trinil and Javanese Perk. Out of the 11 bird species, 3 species are included in the protected category, namely the Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), Buffalo Egret (Bubulcus ibis), and Gajahan Pengala (Numenius phaeopus).

Traveling to Blekok Village, you can see various types of birds. To see these various types of birds, come to Kampung Blekok at 05.00 am local time, when the birds go looking for food.You can also watch the birds at 17.00 in the afternoon when they return to their cage in the mangrove forest. Through wooden bridges and viewing towers, you can watch white birds fly and perch in the mangrove forest along the coast.In addition to seeing hundreds of water birds through wooden bridges, you can also participate in planting mangroves or exploring mangrove forests by using boats belonging to local residents. You can also walk in the small alleys and see the activities of the surrounding community who mostly work as fishermen and craftsmen for souvenirs made of wood and shells.The handicrafts are sent almost all over Indonesia, especially Bali and Lombok. You can also buy various handicrafts from the local community as your souvenirs.

All health facilities are still used to well treat Covid-19 patients. Based on https://covid19.go.id/-19, the number of patients with confirmed cases of Covid-19 reached 2,527,203 per July 11, 2021. The availability of tools, such as a ventilator breathing, becomes very important in helping to handle the number of critical patients of Covid-19 increasing in every health facility. Therefore, researchers from the Research Center for Electronics and Telecommunications, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Eko Joni Pristianto and his teamare developing a ventilator named ‘SIVENESIA’ (Smart Innovative Ventilator Indonesia) with two operating modes CPAP and BiPAP.CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) mode is a ventilator that produces a level of positive air pressure that is constant and continuously given to the patients with the aim of keeping the patients’ respiratory tract open. While the BiPAP (Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure) mode is a ventilator that can produce two different levels of positive air pressure, namely when inhaling (inspiration) and when exhaling (expiration), making it more comfortable for patients to use because it will follow breathing rhythm while maintaining the required end-expiratory pressure or PEEP (Positive end-expiratory pressure).

Researcher Eko Joni explained that the CPAP and BiPAP ventilators are usually recommended by doctors for patients with sleep apnea (serious sleep disorders), which is a symptom where the patients’ respiratory system stops for a while during sleep. This, of course, will result in a bad quality of sleep of the patient. The CPAP or BiPAP ventilator mode is a pressure-based ventilator mode, which aims to prevent airway obstruction, such as the symptoms experienced by many COVID-19 sufferers, and to train the respiratory muscles before the patient can breathe normally. According to Eko, CPAP and BiPAP are classified as the most effective non-invasive treatment systems (without surgery) and are the first and most widely used options for patients with respiratory problems.

Eko also explained that the purpose of using this ventilator is to keep the patients’ respiratory tract open, while the basic difference between the CPAP and BiPAP modes is comfort when the patients breathe. In CPAP mode, the ventilator will work by providing a continuous (constant) flow of positive pressure air through the tube to the nose or through the mouth; this can cause fatigue (un-comfortability) for the patients, especially during the exhalation process, the patients must use more force to resist the pressure. This problem will be very disturbing, especially for certain patients who have neuromuscular disease (an extensive group of disorders characterized by motor changes produced by injury or nerve disorders). Meanwhile, for BiPAP mode, this type of ventilator will provide different pressures when the patients breathe (inspiration) and when the patients exhale (expiration) so that they will be more comfortable in breathing while maintaining the required Positive end-expiratory pressure. Because this ventilator is a medical device that functions as a breathing tool, the use of this ventilator mode must be with the advice, instruction and supervision of a doctor.

SIVENESIA has gone through the testing phase. Next, Eko Joni Pristianto and his team will conduct a SIVENESIA clinical trial as the further step to obtain a distribution permit as a form of dissemination of their research results.