Things that are so obvious and ingrained that no one even thinks about them.
Here’s a few:
All US americans can go to Mexico EASILY. You’re supposed to have a passport but you don’t even need one (for car/foot crossing). Versus, it’s really hard for Mexicans, who aren’t wealthy, to secure a VISA to enter the US. I’m sure there are corollaries in other geo-regions.
Another one is wealthy countries having access to vaccines far ahead of “poor” countries.
In US, we might pay lip service to equal child-hood education but most of the funding pulls from local taxes so some kids might receive ~$10000 in spending while another receives $2000. I’m not looking it up at the moment, but I’m SURE there are strong racial stratas.
I agree that in the context of what's going on worldwide, China is doing much better for sustainability than the rest of the world. So, in a sense, criticism is invalid because it would be better directed at the countries with higher emissions per capita, as you say. Criticism doesn't exist in a vacuum and we should steer clear of anticommunism and sinophobia.
On the other hand, there's no way China should keep its level of industrial growth and usage of fossil fuels indefinitely in the face of world threatening climate change. I think it's a fair criticism to make when trying to assess how future socialism should look. In other words, China may be doing very well for itself by keeping per capita emissions very low relative to the rest of the world, but even still, it burns amounts of fossil fuels that are fundamentally at odds with trying to prevent climate collapse. Is that mostly due to Western capital? Yeah, pretty much.
I agree. That's the scariest part of all of this. If any country decreases its industrial output, it decreases its ability to wage war, which means it increases its chances of getting invaded by a less principled country who continues to increase its industrial output. So all nations basically see decreasing industrial output as letting their guard down and opening themselves up to invasion. And if they get invaded/annexed by more powerful nations who don't care about the climate, their industrial output will still increase, just under a new regime imposed from the outside. So there's a global prisoners' dilemma here. I don't foresee anyone letting their guard down by decreasing industrial output. Significantly below international agreements which already aren't being followed anyway.