Keep in mind, the competitive level of experience was around 4-5000 hrs with turbine experience for a DESOs position, a lot of them have more jet experience and exposure to flying around Asia than DEFOs.
True, but that is just because the pilot mass available, had that kind of experience. It doesn't say anything about what is required to do the job. If it did, the Cadet scheme would be flawed big time.
A lot of the high timers that applied for DESO instead of DEFO must also have done so by choice. The requirements for applying for DEFO has never been as high as the hours you mention.
Never the less, I hope that CX offers upgrades/BPP to the SOs that require it.