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It was a unique occasion, the first time ever that a U.S. political family dynasty opened a new diplomatic facility. U.S. President George W. Bush -- standing alongside his father, former President George H. W. Bush, U.S. Ambassador Clark T. Randt and China’s State Councilor Dai Bingguo -- used the event to continue statements made earlier in the week, encouraging the Chinese to improve their human rights record.
“The relationship between our nations is constructive, cooperative and candid,” the president noted. He said, “We continue to be candid about our belief that all people should have the freedom to say what they think and worship as they choose. We strongly believe societies that allow free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful.”
The president was not looking to provoke confrontation with Chinese officials among the 400 guests present at the gathering. He told them he wouldn’t make any predictions about the medal count, “but I can tell you the U.S. athletes have come to compete in the spirit of friendship.”
The concept of candidness being part of the bilateral relationship was not reciprocated by Dai, however. “No matter how the international situation and domestic political landscape in the United States may change, the commitment of the Chinese government to the China-U.S. constructive and cooperative relationship will remain unchanged,” he said in his remarks to the group.
Dai called for the two sides to work together in the days and years ahead, “to strengthen dialogue and exchange, increase mutual trust and cooperation, properly manage our differences on sensitive issues, respect and accommodate each others’ concerns and push for continued sound and steady growth of the China-U.S. constructive and cooperative relationship to better serve our peoples.”
On Aug. 5 Ambassador Randt described the U.S.-China relationship as “the most important bilateral relationship in the 21st century.” He told UPI it was important to have “all of our people under one roof.”
The newly finished U.S. Embassy is the second largest State Department facility outside the United States, after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad. Originally projected to cost US$250 million, the final price tag was US$434 million. On the drawing board since the mid-1990s, the facility has 500,000 square feet of office space situated on a 10-acre compound located in the Chinese capital’s new Liangmahe, or Bright Horse River, diplomatic district outside the northeastern corner of Beijing’s bustling Third Ring Road.
The new embassy consists of an eight-storey chancery, an adjacent three-storey office building with atrium, Marine security guard barracks, consular building and parking structure. The complex was designed by the San Francisco architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Peter Walker and Associates based in Berkeley, California were the landscape designers.
The building and landscape incorporated Chinese characteristics including geomantic principles known as “fengshui,” according to John “Jay” Holleran, the State Department’s project manager for the new embassy.
Holleran said fengshui masters “had been consulted,” hastening to add that while elements of the ancient practice were a pseudoscience when it came to abilities such as promoting wealth or good luck, “parts of it are just common sense,” especially measures maximizing sunlight and reducing energy costs.
The president’s father, George H. W. Bush, remarked on the immense changes that have enveloped the city since his posting in the Chinese capital back in 1974-1975. “In 34 years since I first came to China change has been one of the constants; Peking is now Beijing; bicycles that used to dominate the roads have given way to cars,” he said.
“The Bird’s Nest (Beijing’s National Olympic Stadium) and other architecture show that China has achieved something truly special in readying itself to host these games; it’s simply remarkable,” the elder Bush said, adding that he had felt a “sense of awe at the transformation the embassy complex has undergone.”
Both presidents, the American ambassador and Chinese official paid homage to one of the guests in the audience, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was instrumental in the process of establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China in the 1970s.
Entertainment for the event was provided by 10 women from the Red Peony Drum Corps and the Gatlin Brothers, a country western band with close ties to the Bush family.