Your take on the Xingke situation really clears things up, although I wish the show had done a little more explaining itself. I miss Diethard, who was always there to analyze the political situations in season one.

Do I detect a little Xingke fanboying at the end there? For the record, I want to see that OP mech in action, too.

inb4 invincible Chinese generals are awesome

What Xingke did is actually not that surprising, you obviously haven’t watched enough political drama =P. Well here’s my thoughts, although I can’t say if they’re right:
While the rest of the world is puzzled, he and his men caused the explosion and staged the whole conflict with the Black Knights, obvious enough. Given the cryptic exchange he had with C.C. It seems Xingke used the Black Knights’ presence to rid of the embassy counselor, someone he considers a corrupt official and plague within the government (an opinion which probably originates before all the events in R2), and in effect not only blamed the counselor’s death on the Black Knights, but also allowed him to seized power over the embassy. However, as a ‘fair trade’, he agrees to turn a blind eye towards the Black Knights’ firing against Britannia within the embassy (while keeping Britannia in check), which offered them a huge advantage in the fight that came about.

Citrus the one comment I must make to you again is…”Chinese Generals!”. Military commanders skilled in both fighting and tactics are rare enough, while Xingke here also reveals strategic insight for the political theater (he sees far more use in the Black Knights than I originally expected, given not only is it good for the Chinese Federation if the BKs succeeded, the current stance means it’s ALSO useful for them if the BKs failed). I’m just waiting for him to get badass in that OP mech now =).