Clark Randt, former ambassador to China, stressed the importance of cooperation of the United States and China in his speech Friday night at the Baker Center.

The Baker Center's event coordinator Missy Jenkins said it was Senator Howard Baker's idea to invite Randt to speak. "Senator Baker was an ambassador to Japan and Mr. Randt had been an Ambassador to China, so they've known each other for a long time," she said.

Randt said China's rising power has already changed people's lives in terms of the prices for goods at stores, interest rates and 26 percent of particular pollution on the west coast of U.S.

He said globalization and regional integration has changed the world. "Big powers have more to fear from nuclear proliferation, terrorist and nontraditional security threats," Randt stated. It's important to keep in mind that big powers have a lot more reasons to work together than they have to fight. Clark Randt

He described China as a place that's been hard to govern throughout history. For example, 56 pillars in Tiananmen Square are a hot topic in Beijing now. The government is debating on whether to remove or leave these symbolic pillars that represent 56 ethnic groups in China.

In 1974 on his first visit to Beijing, Randt found that the Cultural Revolution was still going on. When he approached people on the streets to practice the language, people would run away from him out of fear of being accused of consorting with foreigners.

He said the Chinese military is something to be contended with as the nation has a lot of capacity to cause trouble.

According to the Economic Reference Journal, China had already become third in world consumption of luxury goods in 2005. Randt said he went by Lamborghini and Bentley dealerships and saw Gucci, Burberry and Dior stores two days ago. "There are more people in China who earn more than $200,000 a year than there are in the US," he pointed out.

Although China and the U.S. have different histories, cultures, national circumstances and fundamental values, Randt said the two countries work together in many areas: human rights, religious freedom, trade, intellectual property rights protection and global health.

In 1979, the U.S. Embassy issued 770 visas to Chinese students. In 2008, 77,000 visas were issued.

Randt is excited about the year of 2012 because of the change of leadership in China and presidential elections in the U.S. "We shouldn't be afraid of tomorrow, we should rather use the opportunities," he concluded.

Shixiao Wang, a UT junior in business administration, was excited to hear what Randt had to say about China after living and working there for a long time.

"I liked that Mr. Randt took a neutral stand in introducing China to Americans," he said. "Most of what I've heard today was pretty general to me, and I wish he talked about President Obama's visit to China next month."