For most of China’s 1.4 billion population, 2024 has been the Year of the Dragon, which makes it, according to Confucian legend, a time of renewal and rejuvenation. For a much smaller number of Chinese – the dozen or so Jinping apparatchiks who determine the CCP’s foreign relations – 2024 has also involved two other animals which have nothing to do with legend and everything to do with realpolitik.