You're all completely over analysing the situation.
Coming from someone who reluctantly flies through Chinese airspace on a regular basis - you're dealing with a bunch of clowns here who have no clue how to clamber out of a wet paper bag, let alone run an efficient ATS. It's a complete goat f@ck.
Simples, take the bull by the horns, declare a pan or mayday if you have to, and get on with it, get around the weather and don't put the aircraft or it's pax in danger. By no means EVER trust them as far as you can urinate.
I can sympathise with the yank who did serious damage to his aircraft and endangered his passengers, in the good ol' US of A air traffic control go out of their way to advise and vector you around weather. However, this is sadly only the case in his home country. No other ATS in the world is quite that proactive.
As a long haul skipper, I guess he should have been aware of this short fall in 'foreign' ATC, let alone the bunch of drop kicks that is Asian ATC.
As a side note, Hong Kong ATC used to be the exception with very professional ATC, but since the bean counters have taken charge of this sad, sad industry they've booted out the experienced guys/gals and replaced them with the utterly useless local 'cannot'/iphone squad. So now as soon as there's any weather within 500nm the wheels fall off, and again, one needs to take the bull by the horns and get on with telling these children how to do their jobs.
Pathetic.