I reiterate what I said before, please read Factfulness, and then get back to me.
Also, funnily enough, China was never considered a third-world country, but a second-world one, you know, in Cold war terms.
Again you're really struggling with the grammar here.
"Mary and the boys".
Is Mary a boy? No, Mary is not a boy. We are indicating Mary is in fact, not part of "the boys". Likewise, "China and 3rd world" indicates China is not 3rd world.
> Show me the AP standard
https://twitter.com/apstylebook/status/631085111220547584?la...
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/04/3726844...
> I reiterate what I said before, please read Factfulness, and then get back to me.
Wonderful book, not related to our current disagreement. If we're throwing out recommendations though, then I'd recommend Strunk and White.
> by China and 3rd world countries
By Mary and the guys (indicating that Mary is not a guy).
> Per capita, it's not the "3rd" world countries that are polluting, but the "1st" worlds
From your own source, the top polluters per capita are Qatar, Trinidad & Tobago and Kuwait. Qatar is wealthy, but probably not "1st world".
> I'm sad to see someone still referring to countries as "1st" and "3rd" world, as that's an incredibly outdated term
The AP standard was updated in 2015. The terms "1st", "2nd" and "3rd" world are still in common parlance even though the AP prefers "Developed" and "Developing".