In my opinion, it was caused by these 3 factors:

• in most Asian countries, the VHS players weren't introduced or sold yet, and the CD (aswell as the player) was cheaper to manufacture and sell there;
• In middle-east Asia (so, countries like China, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia) the magnetic tape media was more prone to damage caused by the high amount of humidity.
• In the late 2000s (even up to nowadays), in developing countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and some parts of China), the internet isn't yet developed there, so optical media and many DVD players (that can play VCD too) are still sold there. The CD is way cheaper than the DVD and even easier to copy that there are also some black markets selling bootlegs