Asia: 4.4 billion people in 49 countries. Generalisation much? I also work in Asia, and it's my opinion that anyone who talks about "Asian culture" talks about human culture but hasn't worked out that not looking caucasian does not automatically equate to incompetence, lack of proficiency and foresight.
I've lived and worked in Asia for 15 years (nothing to do with aviation) and I think I understand what is meant by such comments—deference to authority, rote learning, superstition.
I agree that much of this is not unique to Asia and is typically a question of economic and social development. But that doesn’t make it any less real.
Which countries in Asia are not top-down, hierarchical societies? Which have a strong rule of law? Which have vibrant democracies that give voice to ordinary people? Which have a free press that encourages accountability for those at the top? Which have a tradition of independent academic enquiry? Which have a welfare system that means people aren’t terrified of losing their jobs? Which are free from corruption?
The answer is that no country in Asia has all of these things, and most have none of them at all. It’s not about race or culture—it’s about the basic institutions of advanced democracies.
It’s not my place to say how much any of this matters when it comes to CRM or aviation safety, but my lay view would be that I notice less of this deferential conservatism in free but poor India, and more of it in rich but restrictive Japan/Korea. (Plenty in SE Asia and China too.)
Even so... I suspect that such things only have an effect at the margins, which is not to say that they are unimportant, but a far bigger challenge is how Asia will find the 500k+ new pilots (plus another 500k+ mechanics) that Boeing predicts the region will need during the next two decades. It seems unlikely that these new pilots will be getting extra hours in aerobatic planes (or even extra hours in a sim)...