In the days before a high-stakes summit between two of the world's most consequential leaders, China offered a quiet but legible gesture: formal guidelines for prosecuting fentanyl crimes, a synthetic plague that has hollowed out communities across America and strained the diplomatic relationship for years. The move reflects the ancient calculus of statecraft — that concession on one front can open passage on many others. Whether this institutional signal becomes lived enforcement, or remains a diplomatic courtesy dressed in legal language, is the question history will answer in the months ahe