An hour after Thomas Friedman delivered the keynote address at the first annual Energy Crossroads conference in Memorial Auditorium on Friday afternoon, 30 members of the student group Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford (FACES) sat down for a discussion with the three-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and New York Times columnist.

The author of the bestselling book “The World is Flat” talked primarily about his thoughts on the future of China and Sino-American relations.

“We’re so tied together now,” he said of the United States and China. “Our success is your success, and our failure will be your failure.”

While acknowledging China’s growth as an economic and political power, he also expressed caution about jumping to conclusions too fast.

“I’m not yet ready to cede the 21st century to China,” he said. “Grandma Friedman used to say, ‘Never cede a century to a country that censors Google.’”

He continued to emphasize his concerns about political freedom in China, comparing the country to a “six-lane superhighway.” While traffic may be moving quickly over the smooth surface right now, he said, there is a dangerous speed bump in the distance — “political transition.”

“The big question is which speed China should be going,” he said.

FACES members spoke highly about their conversation with Friedman after the discussion.

“It was a great chance for students to pick the brains of someone like Tom Friedman in a closed-door setting,” said FACES co-President Kabir Chadha ‘07. “This is really an instance where we connected a leader of today with the leaders of tomorrow.”

Established in 2001, FACES is a student group whose mission is to connect the future leaders of the United States with those of China. It holds two conferences a year — one at Stanford and one in China — where American and Chinese students discuss global leadership issues. The Stanford conference is planned for early April.