Is networking truly that important in Asian countries?

First post here, and would like to just say thanks in general for all the good advice and entertainment here. There's one part to breaking into IB which I see everywhere, be it on WSO or M&I, and that's networking. Of course internships, good grades, actually having a personality etc. matters greatly too, but networking seems to be like the special sauce you simply can't do without. I'm currently in my freshman year of studies at a good Asian university (can be considered a target), and I think I'm still fairly on track to having a shot at breaking in. However, on the networking side, I'm definitely quite lacking compared to a lot of people on this forum (I see posts where sophomores and juniors have had over 150 phone calls and countless physical coffee chats etc), and was wondering if it's just as important as in Asia.

Through my seniors in my university that have managed to secure BB IB summer offers and gotten the FT conversion, many of them told me it's something that's nice to have, but it won't move the needle much as the recruiting process is quite formal and structured (and people don't really have coffee chats as much?). They did say that knowing seniors and working professionals certainly have benefits, with the main one being that you will be more comfortable in interviews as you will know them personally. I'm certainly not doubting them, but would like to hear more thoughts from the people on this forum (both the Western and Eastern hemispheres), and if the differences in recruiting are truly this widespread.  Thanks a lot in advance, and hope you all are having a good 2023 so far!