The OP rings true. Espescially this bit:
- A "Just Culture" in airlines and the CAAC? No, the culture is about control, punishment, and fixing of blame (not prevention). At best, they will whip everyone before implementing a solution. At worst, they will make silly rules and enforce new checks or tests that do nothing but satisfy political dogs high in the food chain.
I'm not a pilot; my career has been spent in two dimensions, after many happy years with Cathay Pacific's lower profile "sister" shipping companies in the Swire Group I have spent the last few years with China's premier shipping line.
I have finally suceeded, after years of
"We already have that" and after a bad fatal accident, in introducing international standard CRM training, which they most certainly didn't have - they had a facsimile of it. Still a lot of resistance.
Yes, there are very big problems with human factors in China.