...most unlikely I'm afraid...in my time there I only recall one pilot being hired without an IR, and he had to get his eventually (I can't recall if the Company sponsored him or he paid for it himself). There have probably been others.
I can assure you it gets pretty black over the South China Sea at night, hence why the IR is essential (plus the viz during the day is ****e much of the time due to industrial air pollution which is endemic to the greater Pearl River Delta, and much of China for that matter).