I think sometimes there is a tendency for Australians to dismiss Asian countries as poor and producers of low technology products. Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Melbourne Kuala Lumpur 4. China, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, or Australia. People are culturally centric. People tend not to look outside their culture.
People tend to have stereotypes of other cultures.
When in a different culture people tend to see the differences and ignore similarities. When you live in a different culture everything you have grown up with, every understanding you have about your culture, language and communication is largely useless. You do not know the rules of communication in other cultures. You do not know how to relate to other people. Therefore you are unable to function in a meaningful way because you cannot communicate effectively.