Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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This is relevant because the Washington Post printed the assertion from Xie Zhenhua, China’s chief negotiator at the climate talks in Cancun Mexico, that China’s per capita income is $3,700. According to the CIA Factbook, China’s per capita income in 2009 was $6,700 a year and it has grown by more than 10 percent over the last year.
Of course the rest of Mr. Xie’s comments are accurate. China is a developing country that still has a per capita income that is less than one sixth that of the United States. It also did not play an important role in creating the problem, unlike the United States and wealthy European countries who have been spewing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for decades.