Liability in China
I am not the expert here but here are my thoughts:
This is a good subject and one to consider when working in China. It is true that generally foreign pilots are treated well and the police are afraid to hassle them. The reason is they are afraid of making trouble with them because it may bring them unknown trouble from their leaders. This comes from a family source, leader of a towns police but I have never tested it...hehe.
I have been flying in China for only 2 years and have concern about the liabilty part of flying. I don't think my above comments would help too much if you were invloved in a serous accident resulting in injury or death. I think you would be in serious trouble if you were at fault because of pilot error. The Chinese believe if you break the Law or make a mistake, you MUST, be punished. This is culture, a way of life and I see this often in the newspapers. A bridge collapes, they will certainly hunt down the engineer, the company leaders and they will be punished, some very seriously, even jailed.
As pilots in China it is SOP with most companies that we are punished for small errors, QARS, or being late for work and the list goes on. The punishments are with fines by the company, or by posting your name and error on the company website for all to see and company action. If your error is really bad you will get CAAC action against your certificate.
I have a liability clause in my contract for the basics but PILOT ERROR, serious injury or death, I would be on own and left to the system. The system could bring some criminal action seeking a prison term.
This is also true in other countries as well. Criminal liability for pilots seems to be becoming more popular these days.
Fly safe and be careful,
On Final