Visit to Shenzhen, Clinton Makes $250,000
China Times May 25, 2002
Beijing -- Former US President Bill Clinton yesterday made his first
visit to mainland China since leaving office. The visit was at the
invitation of a Mainland Chinese real estate firm which asked him to
make a speech in Shenzhen, the topic was "The World Trade Organization
and China's Real Estate Economy." After completing his half-hour speech,
the real estate firm which invited him paid him an honorarium of
US$250,000.
The symposium was hosted by noted Chinese master of ceremonies Yang Lan,
and there were over 300 people in the audience, made up of CHinese, Hong
Kong and American political and business celebrities, including Shenzhen
Mayor Yu Huanjun, and the American Consul general in Guangzhou.
Today's Guangzhou Daily News revealed that Clinton's speech, which was
scheduled to begin at 9:30 am, was pushed back over an hour when his
flight was delayed. The 30-minute talk on "WTO and China's Real Estate
Economy" was marked by not a few digressions and ad-libbed comments,
leaving the impression that he did not have sufficient knowledge of the
subject, that his focus was scattered, and mid-way through the
presentation, several listeners were seen to be taking out their
earpieces through which they heard the translation.
After the speech, members of the audience asked serious questions about
the world economy and the political situation, including questions about
the effect of WTO membership on Shenzhen's situation, which the former
president had no way of answering. In answering a question on how he
thought the middle east crisis could be resolved, he wrung his hands
together and answered "I don't know, I really don't know." At this, a
sound of suppressed laughter rippled through the audience.
END
Serbian News Network - SNN
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