Or maybe 'cause the countries with rhinos are generally poor, while China is relatively filthy rich? (at least if you divide the wealth by the number of people with power, not by the "entire total").

When you have malaria, AIDS, racial wars, budget problems etc. it's kind of hard to prioritize endangered species.

I wouldn't let anyone off the hook so easily, even if it is a poor African country.

As long as Rhino horn trade is not a mayor income source for the government then how much does it cost them to introduce harsh punishments for this?

China was also very poor when they started implementing policies to save the Panda bear. It's not that long ago that millions of Chinese starved to death, that's how poor they were back then.