Definition of transit: do connecting flights work?

Is it possible to use the 144-Hour Visa-free Transit when the start and destination countries are the same, but both the outbound and return flights have stops, and the stops are in different countries?
Is the last/first stop before/after China that counts, or the origin/destination?
E.g. outbound flight MUC-CDG-PVG, 144 hours in Shanghai, then PVG-AMS-MUC?
One can concur that CDG and AMS are in different countries, while others might argue that the origin/final destination are identical. Thanks.