I hear a lot of swaggering on here. I also hear a lot of thoughts from people with experience in only one part of the world.
Going from FIR to FIR and accent to accent makes a pilot appreciate standard phraseology. I'm glad someone is asking this question.
How about deviations in places like China? Or involving China? I was going in the area between Tapei, Fukuoka heading towards a monster CB. I asked the CA if he thought we could request a west deviation (into China's airspace) and he looked at me like I had four heads. Is deviation in that part of the world that much harder than in the US?