This is Bill Tsutsui with another Postcard from Asia from the Center for East Asian Studies.

File this under “Statistics to the Rescue”. Economy or ecology? Ecology or economy? Tough choice. Especially for China which is barreling recklessly ahead in its quest to become top consumer nation. A recent release from the Chinese government states that the country has a plan that calls for “controlling greenhouse emissions” without imposing “mandatory caps” that might interfere with the country’s meteoric economic trajectory. China has now surpassed the US as the world’s top producer of CO2 emissions, but the Chinese government insists that statistically this doesn’t matter because the per capita output is still lower than the United States. Using one environmental catastrophe to justify another. And they call Washington’s PR guys masters of spin!

With thanks to Randi Hacker for this text, from the Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Bill Tsutsui. Wish you were here.