I think people are forgetting the far eastern face saving culture. They have locked themselves into a spiral which is rapidly disappearing up their own fundaments.
I posted it before, there are only TWO facts:
1. Where the transponder transmitted last
2. Where the ACARS last transmitted.
Anything else cannot be proven yet!!!!!
Yes - With the transponder we would expect another signal ½ second later and we didn't get it.
But we don't know when the next ACARS message was to be expected.