For sure, there would have been attempted radio contact etc that would have been heard by other flights. But I still believe if a sensitive area or large popula

For sure, there would have been attempted radio contact etc that would have been heard by other flights. But I still believe if a sensitive area or large population area were threatened that they and many other countries would choose to bring the airliner down. I would also be surprised if China did shoot the airliner down, that they would try and keep "a border incursion secret during this time", as it would surely come out. In this case, I don't think China was involved in the loss of the airliner, but I thought others might find the history of the area interesting. I didn't know about the Russian SAR issue in the Korean airliner disaster.