Sarah Palin’s first ever visit to East Asia began with a monologue that invoked the spirit of Margaret Thatcher, sounded “unmistakably” like a pitch for the 2012 presidency and was described by several members of the audience as “long, humorless and George W Bush-like”.

Described by some as “safe” and by others as “uncomfortable”, the speech called for closer ties between the United States and China, and attacked the recent decision of the Administration of Barack Obama to impose heavy tariffs on imported Chinese tyres.

But it also warned of China’s own “internal contradictions” and America’s need to stand up against oppression.

It was a rare foreign outing for the former Vice-Presidential candidate who committed a series of foreign policy gaffes during last year’s campaign. She claimed to be familiar with Russia, thanks to Alaska’s proximity to the country, and had only visited Kuwait and Germany before - on both occasions to meet US troops stationed there.

The former Alaska governor’s speech was delivered in Hong Kong to the CLSA Asia Pacific Markets Forum - a lavish annual beano where over 1,000 of the world’s most astute investors come to hear the views of the foremost political and business minds on earth.

“I’m going to call it like I see it and I will share with you candidly a view right from Main Street, Main Street USA,” the former vice-Presidential candidate declared, before launching into prepared remarks on the Alaskan fishing industry.

Several audience members reportedly walked out of Ms Palin’s speech 30 minutes before the end, citing “more important things to do” or describing the talk as “too partisan and too much like a speech at the Republican convention”.

One senior fund manager told The Times that the 80-minute lecture, and the lack of an opportunity to fire any questions at Ms Palin, was a disappointment. “You would think that with her team of speechwriters and a supposedly media-free environment Palin could have afforded to be either funny or thought-provoking, but she was neither,” she said.

The speech carefully attacked America’s worsening fiscal position and directly condemned President Obama’s healthcare plan. Many Americans, she said, were not happy with proposed reforms that impinge on private enterprise. She has recently used her popular Fecebook page to express her opposition to the Obama plan, claiming that it would create “death panels” for old people.

Although the CLSA event was strictly off-limits to media, one attendee remarked that the speech felt like it was carefully crafted for a global television audience, and amounted to Ms Palin’s setting-out her policy stall for the longer term. “This was about an obviously ambitious wannabe presidential candidate laying down a marker on her weak spot of foreign policy,” he said. “I think we are going to hear something very similar to this speech trotted-out again in different places over the next months and years.”

Playing more obviously to a ballroom full of investors, Ms Palin quoted Margaret Thatcher’s comment that there is no alternative to capitalism because it is the system that ensures the most prosperity for the most people. Market-based solutions, she said, must be allowed to improve US healthcare and she concluded that the US economy would “roar back to life” if the private sector were allowed its freedom.

Despite it being her first visit to China, Ms Palin had come armed with a range of forthright views on the Middle Kingdom and how it should conduct itself. China, she argued, must support the de-nuclearisation of Iran and North Korea; the United States should maintain a strong military presence in the region “until China’s internal contradictions are resolved”. Asia is at its best, she added, when it is not dominated by a single power.

Besides its political impact, the speaking engagement is understood to have brought substantial financial relief to Ms Palin, whose recent legal battles have left her with bills of about $500,000. CLSA’s refusal to reveal the fee paid to Ms Palin added to the general mood of secrecy surrounding the event, but it is thought to be in the range of between $170,000 to $220,000.

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