In the PC, A. Houston did his utmost to "smooth the waters" of the Chinese adherence to the overall plan, and give them much credit, but it does seem from awkward answers at times that there may have been some worrisome issues heretofore. His 2 hour meeting with the ambassador last night as well as his "realistic acceptance" that on-site press might sometimes jump the gun, all seem designed to improve the situation going forward.
Yes, the Chinese were "roughly in the general search area", in fact closer to the "just refined satellite re-look" that gives "more probability" to the southern boundary of the search area. Perhaps the Chinese experts independently tinkered with the satellite data that suggests this; or maybe their satellite or aircraft sightings were part of the equation for their focus.
It seems the Chinese ship, the HMS Echo, and the Ocean Shield all have different capabilities to verify and otherwise decipher acoustic events, with (per A. Houston and the Commodore) the Ocean Shield being the ablest. It is a shame therefore that it may be delayed 2 days before getting to the Chinese incident area, to do it's own separate acoustic verification, as battery life dwindles. I would think another "equally able" ship (USA or otherwise) would be an invaluable asset just about now!
Last edited by rigbyrigz; 6th Apr 2014 at 05:08.
Reason: punctuation