"Artist" vs "Artiste"

[Uemarasan]

I've always wondered why people in Singapore, Taiwan, HK, Malaysia, China (basically the Chinese-speaking part of Asia) have to spell artist as "artiste"? Does it somehow make the word more special (honestly, it sounds more pretentious to my ear)? What is wrong with just "artist"? Is there some sort of historical borrowing from the French language that I am not familiar with? Can it be traced to the days of French Indochina?

I mean, in the rest of Asia (like where I am), it's plain and simple "artist".

Really, I'm genuinely curious, and I don't mean to offend anyone