Your friend is telling the truth. Canon SG also have replaced the international warranty with local warranty since middle of last year.
If you are looking to save money, you can consider buying gray sets (water goods) from HK. Gray sets are usually cheaper than local sets since they don't carry any warranty (some shops do provide shop warranty) so if you are not going back to HK to claim warranty service, you might as well save a bit more with the gray sets.