DH call:
So will the Chinese government foot the bill in this search effort or are they just going to sit back and enjoy the moment as the victims families blame every non-chinese government or organization for the lack of results in this search?
No, they are not obliged to. The countries who have contributed to the search will foot their own bills initially I would think. So China will be paying for any of its aircraft that it is using. Whether any bills would end up being charged to the airliner's insurers, I don't know. Australia will pay for all of its S&R efforts, eg those inside its S&R zone.