About the Embassy

Remarks by the Honorable Clark T. Randt, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to China
New Embassy Compound Media Day tour
 (As prepared)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,

After more than 15 years of discussions and four and a half years of construction, I take great personal pride in welcoming all of you to a preview of our magnificent new and state of the art United States Embassy Beijing compound, which will be officially dedicated this Friday by the President of the United States.

Our new embassy together with the impressive new Chinese embassy in Washington, which was dedicated on July 29, are tangible symbols of the growth and importance of our bilateral relationship.

When I arrived in Beijing in 2001, we had a staff of approximately 500 personnel in 10 agencies spread across eight locations in Beijing.  Today, we are a staff of 1,100 in 26 agencies, working out of 22 locations.  For the first time, we will be working together in one consolidated and secure operating site.  The stunning compound before you provides over 600,000 square feet of office space and, together with the overall interior and landscaping, was designed by a team from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill led by Craig Hartman out of that firm’s San Francisco office, and Tamara Dinsmore who did the interior design after winning the State Department’s project competition.  This state of the art compound was built by an American joint venture construction company comprised of Zachry Construction Corporation out of San Antonio, Texas, and Caddell Construction, out of Montgomery, Alabama.

The Zachary-Caddell joint venture was ably assisted by the Beijing construction engineering group.  As a result of their joint efforts, this new compound was built to meet unprecedented security requirements, while at the same time being energy efficient and providing a comfortable work environment maximizing natural light.  This unprecedented undertaking would not have been possible without the extraordinary attention given to its creation, supervision and coordination by the State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations particularly its top leadership under General Chuck Williams and, more recently, Dick Shinnick, and the outstanding efforts of its experienced and talented project managers:  P.K. Bagchi and, more recently, William Prior.

I want to also thank Sharon Eaton, who assisted with the interior and who will be guiding you on your tour today.   This modern, high-tech compound is not only welcoming to visitors, but encourages interaction among personnel.  The interior was designed after extensive interviews with embassy staff to reflect their needs and preferences, creating a tailored and highly efficient work place.  The enlarged consular section will permit us to meet the rapidly increasing demand for visas to visit the United States, while providing a more comfortable environment for applicants. 

The Beijing NEC exhibits contemporary art works by at least 29 prominent American and Chinese artists including Maya Lin, Cai Guo-Qiang, Betty Woodman, Robert Rauschenberg, Yun-Fei Ji, and Hai Bo.  This extraordinary collection was provided by the Department of State’s ART in Embassies Program. The selection of the artwork, chosen by ART’s Chief Curator Virginia Shore, was motivated by cultural sensitivity and diplomacy. The Department of State owns most of the works, with the exception of the Jeff Koons’ steel sculpture Tulips, which is on a 10-year loan.

Additionally, several works were donated to the embassy by The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, a non-profit organization that’s mission is to acquire signature works for U.S. diplomatic buildings.

I want to thank Anne Johnson, Director of ART in Embassies who is in the audience today, and her talented staff for this truly remarkable contribution to Embassy Beijing.  Visual Diplomacy plays an important role in our diplomatic outreach, and having the best of American and Chinese art to display in our embassy is important. It effectively documents our desire to have a meaningful relationship between the Chinese and American governments and their peoples.  

This spectacular new embassy compound will provide the United States government with a platform appropriate for the most important bilateral relationship of the 21^st century, the United States-China relationship.  I personally very much look forward to moving to our new offices in mid-September after the Olympics and hope you enjoy the new compound as much as I do.

Thank you for coming.