I have dealt with the Far East a lot myself, both personally and professionally, and have been on cultural training courses.
All the things you mention, apart from the 'saving face' aspect would have applied in the early days but now that he no longer seems to exploit the engagement once the gloss of success has passed. He is now associated with his own non-attendance, poor judgement, a failed promotion of City in Malaysia, a classic error in re-branding and more - and failure has its own stigma even in the Far East.