Perhaps KA needs more pilots who can curse out the Chinese ATC whenever they issue contradictory clearances.
Or maybe they just need more Chinese speaking pilots to cover for the cabin crew whenever they're short in the back. You know, send the s/o to the cattle class to serve Diet Coke and cup noodles.
Oh who knows. Maybe it is a race thing afterall. Though really, I reckon this is more or less a minor detail (it is only a requirement for local crew, not expat), perhaps blown out of proportion.
However, I suppose everything gets blown out of proportion on PPrune. Otherwise, it should remove the word 'rumour' from the moniker...