这句话引用出处有错。是在2010年4月15日接受澳大利亚广播公司专访时说的：

KERRY O'BRIEN: DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE MAKING HEADWAY WITH PRESIDENT HU ON THIS FRONT?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well you know I think China has an enormous interest in solving this problem. You know if you talk to Chinese leaders I think they will acknowledge immediately that if over a billion Chinese citizens have the same living patterns as Australians and Americans do right now then all of us are in for a very miserable time, the planet just can't sustain it, so they understand that they've got to make a decision about a new model that is more sustainable that allows them to pursue the economic growth that they're pursuing while at the same time dealing with these environmental consequences. So I think they understand intellectually. Right now though they're understandable impulse is to say well let's let the developed countries, the Australias, and the Americas deal with this problem first and we'll get to it when we've caught up a little bit in terms of our standard of living. The point we've tried to make is we can't, we can't allow China to wait. We have to take responsibility and do what needs to be done, but if emerging countries not just China but also India, Brazil and others are pursuing a path in which they replace us as the largest carbon emitters, that's not a sustainable practical approach, so we're going to have to have everybody moving on the same track at the same time.