traditionally it is cultural yes, the cultural and political climate are quite different in Asia. I can't say they have absolutely zero concept of freedom though, but its interesting to note that, while in america the right wingers have been vehemently anti masks(which i can understand why), literally everyone in asia were wearing masks without any argument. Even the HK protesters were wearing masks (and those people have been fighting for democracy and for their freedom even harder than people in america), actually the HK government tried to punish the HK protesters by trying to ban them from wearing masks.
Thais have been fighting against their authoritarian monarchy HK style too(partly cause of the authoritarianism and partly cause of the incompetency, negligence and hedonism. ), so i can't say they dont have any concept of freedom but there is a different way of thinking around there.
i think you'd be wrong on that actually. Mask wearing is so common in Asia that i highly doubt they'd prefer to wear a tracking device than wear a mask.