China does emit more carbon than America. But what constantly goes artfully elided in these statements is that their carbon emissions PER CAPITA is WAY lower than America’s.

I spam this vijay prashad clip at people any time someone brings up china's emissions

Even more compelling than the total versus per capita distinction is the cumulative vs annual distinction. If we just go with annual, China looks way worse. But it's important to remember that countries like England industrialized an entire century earlier than China did.