As of July 22, at least 238 people have been detained or questioned since the nationwide clampdown on China's attorneys began, according to the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyer Concern Group, reports The Guardian.

That sounds worrisome indeed!

But I'm also interested in the adjective applied to describe the apparently futile efforts of critics of the crackdown as noted below:

China’s state-controlled media have rejected claims Beijing is waging a war against civil society. “Critics should first get the facts right, get to the bottom of the problem before embarrassing themselves in another unavailing episode of finger-pointing,” an editorial by Xinhua, Beijing’s official news agency, argued this week.

My question: What's the Chinese for "unavailing"? I assume the Xinhua news item was translated from the Chinese original.

I get the feeling this term may be appearing more often . . .