In December 2010, on the final day of his three-day India visit, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao offered a metaphorical vision for bilateral ties, suggesting that “the dragon and the elephant should tango”. The analogy – dragon for China, elephant for India – had already circulated in Western academic and media circles as a comparative frame. With Wen’s remark, it formally entered China’s diplomatic lexicon. Over the past 15 years, through cycles of border tensions and uneasy resets, China’s...