Chinese leaders object to lectures about environmental pollution from high-consumption nations such as the US when a quarter of China's population still lives on less than $1 a day.
Until recently, Beijing said that while the environment was important China must "put development first" and should be allowed more leeway in tackling pollution. Now, increasingly alarmed by visible signs of global warming, the Chinese say they place "equal stress on development and conservation".
But when economic interests are at stake will development really be throttled back for the sake of the environment? So far, in the critical case of the car industry, the answer remains ambiguous.
Environmental arguments have to contend with a pro-car culture among provincial elites which has grown stronger during the past 20 years of economic reform. New motorways are a symbol of that development even though they are seriously under-used - largely because tolls are too high or slower-moving transport is banned.
Most Chinese towns, even in rural areas, have been rebuilt with wide highways. The bicycle, once the symbol of Chinese self-sufficiency, is being pushed to the side of the road.
China's official environmental website highlights the contradiction. One headline calls for a "new goal for automobile pollution control"; the other says, "China must encourage the purchase of automobiles."
By 2005, China hopes to meet European emission levels seen in the late-1990s. By 2010, it hopes to catch up with international standards and that does not take into account rising vehicle numbers.
Here the Chinese state planning commission's policy is unambiguous: "The automobile industry is one of the five mainstays of China: the promotion of automobile purchase must be placed in first position."
Beijing reassures itself by pointing out that there are only 15m vehicles in China, compared with 70m-plus in the US. But the comparison is incomplete without considering respective emission levels.
More serious efforts are now being made to cut emission levels in the big cities which are most visibly affected by pollution - Beijing has banned a fleet of mini-taxis while Chengdu has just staged China's first car-free day.
Permissible emission levels have been loweredand, less specifically, the government is to "encourage" production and use of clean-fuelled vehicles.
The big question is whether these tougher rules will be effective outside the main cities.
The Beijing media has highlighted a campaign on the capital's outskirts to prevent "air-polluting vehicles" entering the city. Most offenders, it explained, "were coal-carrying trucks" hailing from neighbouring provinces - and if the trucks avoid Beijing they will not be taken off the road.
Economists want to increase private car ownership to stimulate consumption and boost the home-grown car industry. Domestic automobile output rose to 1.83m units last year from just 150,000 in 1978. But with annual production capacity at 2.4m units, there is a strong incentive to fill the gap.
At present, nearly two-thirds of vehicles are used commercially, including buses and trucks, while the 5.34m "private" cars usually belong to government bodies or firms.
But real private ownership is looming for China's expanding middle class. There is intense competition to make economy cars around the magic price of 100,000 yuan (£8,400) each. One in five urban families say they could and would afford such a car, prompting foreign carmakers to enter the fray: a process that will be helped along by China's entry into the World Trade Organisation.
