With surface ships from America and China around - and with all of them having underwater listening gear to hear pings - there won't be any subs on the scene. This is not a rescue effort and not worth exposing any secrets.
If there really is a desire and need for a sub search all surface ships in the area will be ordered away first "to avoid surface vessel noise interference". But I doubt it gets to that any time soon.
I'm speaking as a former submariner who spent a 6 month deployment in the IO (but not to the southern part of that ocean).
Surface traffic noise would not hamper submerged search.
It's unlikely the Chinese would detect the submarine in the area.
Only issue I can see is if the surface vessels were dragging a towed array then the search areas would have to be deconflicted. Deconfliction in exercises is routine.
No it's not a rescue effort. Now it is an effort to learn whether 777 aircraft are safe to continue flying or whether this was a deliberate act. Either way it's getting mighty expensive.
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