Yeh this power-distance crap is strongest in Asia. In SQ it was all "captain" "sir" "your highness" and any other butt-kissing verbalage the little ego-freaks wanted. But here in our little outfit in Nam weve managed to slowley beat all this tripe out of the locals and very good CRM has resulted from all the crew being on a first-name basis. It means the crew find me more aproachable as "Slash" and not "captain sir" and I must say makes ME feel like Im part of a team instead of some mysterious isolated bum in the left seat whos only there to have the final say.
Theres nothing more endearing than to hear an Asian local in the right seat after a rough landing say "Jeez Slash you screwed that up!" The FOs still retain some residual butt-kissing tendencys but thats mainly because of ingrained cultural baggage.
P.D. does have its advantages though esp in certain emergencey situations, but this is acknowleged by mature crew.