AN ACR B747-200 HAS A CONFLICT WITH A FOREIGN ACR IN FOREIGN AIRSPACE. RPTR CITES LANGUAGE BARRIER AS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR.

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DURING ARR TO BEIJING (FROM NRT); WE WERE CLRED TO DSND TO 4500 METERS BY ATC. ALL 3 CREW MEMBERS CONCURRED; CHKED CONVERSION TABLES TO SET APPROPRIATE ALT IN FT IN ALTIMETERS (IE; ALT WINDOWS). APCHING VYK VOR (OTS) WE SIMULTANEOUSLY GOT A CALL FROM ATC 'TFC AT 4500 METERS OVER VYK;' SPOTTED AN ACR B747-400 AT APPROX 11:30 O'CLOCK POS; CHKED TCASII TFC 600 FT BELOW US APPROX 4-5 MI AHEAD. CAPT SMOOTHLY CLBED AND TURNED BEHIND/ABOVE TFC. IN VICINITY OF TAJ VOR; WE PICKED UP A STRONG ELT SIGNAL. I RPTED IT IMMEDIATELY TO ATC. THEY WERE DISCUSSING IT IN CHINESE ON FREQ AND WE HEARD ELT ON THEIR XMITTER SEVERAL TIMES; SO THEY WERE SOMEWHAT PREOCCUPIED. WE WERE UNAWARE OF ACR'S PRESENCE (ATC WAS COMMUNICATING WITH THEM IN CHINESE). CHINESE CTLR'S ENGLISH PRESENTS PROBS. WE HAD VERY CAREFULLY ENUNCIATED CLRNC READBACKS THROUGHOUT FLT AND SEVERAL TIMES WHEN 1 OF THE 3 OF US WAS UNCERTAIN OF CLRNC; HAD REQUESTED VERIFICATION FROM ATC. STANDARD 'CANNED' ARR ALT OVER VYK VOR IS 4500 METERS; SO YOU ANTICIPATE THAT ALT. BOTH VYK AND PEK VORS AZIMUTH WERE OTS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE FO SAID THAT ONE OF THE PROBS THAT HE CONSTANTLY HAS TO DEAL WITH IN FOREIGN AIRSPACE IS THE LACK OF A PARTY LINE. IN THIS CASE; HE COULD HEAR THE CONVERSATION BTWN THE CTLRS AND THE OTHER ACR; BUT UNTIL THE CTLR TOLD HIM ITS LOCATION AND ALT HE DID NOT REALIZE THE DANGER. IN FACT; THE CTLR SEEMED MORE INTERESTED IN INITIALLY PURSUING THE MATTER OF THE ELT THAN THE TFC CONFLICT. THE FO SAID THAT LATER; AFTER REVIEWING THE TAPES OF THE INCIDENT; THE FLC WAS TOLD THAT NO CONFLICT OCCURRED. THEN LATER STILL THEY WERE TOLD THAT THE QUALITY OF THE TAPES WAS TOO POOR TO MAKE A DETERMINATION. THE FO SAID THAT THE FLC CAREFULLY CHKED THE CONVERSION CHART WITH EACH ALT CHANGE TO INSURE THAT THEY WERE AT THE CORRECT METRIC ALT. AN ADDITIONAL DISTR WAS THAT A NUMBER OF NAVAIDS WERE ONLY PARTIALLY FUNCTIONING. THERE WAS NO COMPREHENSIVE NOTAM SYS THAT WARNED OF ALL OF THE INOP NAVAIDS. HE SAID THAT THE ARPT LIGHTING SYS WAS OFTEN PARTIALLY INOP AND THE ARPT WOULD HAVE A DIFFERENT APPEARANCE AT NIGHT; DEPENDING ON WHICH LIGHTS WERE OPERATING; EACH TIME HE FLEW TO PEK. HE ALSO SPOKE ABOUT THE DEP FROM PEK WHICH USES ADF NAV RADIOS. THESE ADFS ARE APPARENTLY LOCATED SOME DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER SUCH THAT A DEPARTING ACFT WOULD LOSE EFFECTIVE CONTACT WITH THE ONE BEING TRACKED OUT OF BEFORE THE ONE BEING TRACKED IN ON WAS BEING RECEIVED. HE SAID THAT THE FLC WOULD HOLD THE LAST HDG OR REQUEST VECTORS UNTIL THE NEXT ADF SIGNAL WAS RELIABLE.