Perhaps, the one thing I see is most of the passengers were Chinese, correct? So, it seems the wrath of China would be what to fear in this situation. China would not be content to see it just swept under the rug.
Unless China was party to the decision to down the plane?
What was the Soviets response to Chernobyl? They denied it, then down played it, then dedicated three quarters of a public address to the assertion the three mile island was a worse accident.
The only witnesses here are air traffic controllers, in China or Vietnam they can be killed and the relatives moved and/or imprisoned. See simple.