Sapient creatures are people, yes. Especially when they speak human/humanoid language, which is true for many (most?) dragons in tabletop settings and even Lord of the Rings. In Faerun (D&D) they can even easily transform into humanoids.

Dragons are generally much bigger than PCs or most other creatures, therefore whatever a sapient dragon does is “being the bigger person”.

Weird, we’re experiencing the opposite in Europe.