$500,000 Tony Blair speech bores, outrages Chinese journalists

Sometime, just showing up isn't good enough, even for Tony Blair. The charismatic former British prime minister failed to woo Chinese journalists at a speaking engagement Thursday in Guangdong province in southern China. Since leaving his post, Blair has gone on the lecture circuit, charging a whopping $500,000 for this latest speech. But a Chinese ...

Sometime, just showing up isn't good enough, even for Tony Blair. The charismatic former British prime minister failed to woo Chinese journalists at a speaking engagement Thursday in Guangdong province in southern China. Since leaving his post, Blair has gone on the lecture circuit, charging a whopping $500,000 for this latest speech. But a Chinese newspaper complained that Blair had said "nothing new" and used the occasion to criticize officials in China for wasting taxpayer money:

Sometime, just showing up isn't good enough, even for Tony Blair. The charismatic former British prime minister failed to woo Chinese journalists at a speaking engagement Thursday in Guangdong province in southern China. Since leaving his post, Blair has gone on the lecture circuit, charging a whopping $500,000 for this latest speech. But a Chinese newspaper complained that Blair had said "nothing new" and used the occasion to criticize officials in China for wasting taxpayer money:

The China Youth daily, which is affiliated to the Communist party's youth league, said Mr Blair was forthcoming with pleasantries and clichés without offering any insight.

"Like reports made by some local officials, there was nothing new in his views … so was the speech worth the large sums of money paid out by local officials and businesses?" it questioned.

Blair may not yet be able to match the $1.5 million-per-hour fee Donald Trump charges for engagements at The Learning Annex, but Trump must say something interesting if people pay almost $500 a ticket to listen to him.

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.