'Regulation' is not a solution for countries that do not answer to the morals of the West, such as Turkmenistan, China, or Russia. Regulation should be demonized, for many situations it ends up being a hammer to a screw.
This is not to dismiss the challenge, just that we shouldn't avoid hard problems just because they're hard.
* you referrs to people that use that stupid phrase, not you
The intention of "leading by example" was that it's ridiculous to ask poorer countries to make sacrifices that we ourselves are not willing to make.