BANGKOK —  Japanese car factories in Thailand — which for decades has been the premiere hub of auto manufacturing in Southeast Asia — are shutting down or scaling back.

Subaru said it will stop producing cars at its plant this month. Suzuki plans to cease operations by the end of 2025. And Honda and Nissan say they are reducing production.

The primary culprit: Chinese electric vehicles.

As the world embraces zero-emission vehicles, Thailand has been courting Chinese automakers, which in their quest for global dominance have spent more than $1.4 billion here as of last year to build EV factories.

“Japanese automakers are under significant pressure to cut costs to compete with Chinese brands,” said Larey Yoopensuk, chairman of the Federation of Thailand Automobile Workers. “They are now questioning whether staying in Thailand is still worthwhile.”

Thailand’s government — which wants 30% of the cars it produces to be electric by 2030 — sees Chinese investment as a crucial piece of the future of its auto industry, which now accounts for 800,000 jobs and 10% of the country’s GDP.

The paradigm shift has become a source of anxiety for Thai auto workers, who have long helped produce Japanese cars and the parts that go into them, including exhaust pipes, brakes and doors. Even if Chinese factories replace Japanese ones, Yoopensuk worried that there may not be a place for him or his colleagues in the new order.

One reason is that Chinese companies in Thailand have historically been intolerant of labor unions.

“Over the past decade, this industry has been booming, with unionized workers achieving better living conditions and high incomes,” said Yoopensuk, who has worked in auto manufacturing for 35 years. “If forced out, many workers — particularly older ones — may struggle to find jobs elsewhere.”

He was also concerned that Chinese EV manufacturers would use more automation and favor immigrants from China and Vietnam over Thai workers when hiring.

“This is an issue we’re pushing back against, encouraging these companies to also create employment opportunities here,” he said.

China’s foray into Thailand’s auto industry could herald what’s to come in other parts of the world, as EV adoption grows and Chinese brands go global. Last year, the Chinese behemoth BYD, which opened a factory in Thailand this summer, briefly surpassed Tesla in global sales.

“I don’t think there is any real precedent where those Chinese EV manufacturers are reshaping the industrial landscape in another country,” said David Williams, an expert on labor standards and supply chains in Asia for the International Labor Organization.

Thailand exports just over two-thirds of the cars it makes, with the biggest share going to Australia followed by Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Its most important market is domestic, and the news has been dismal. Total passenger car sales in Thailand fell 23% through September compared to the same period last year. Experts blamed rising household debt and increasingly stringent rules for securing auto loans.

Electric cars — nearly all of them Chinese — were the one bright spot, with sales up 11%.

Gasoline-powered cars still make up more than 90% of all sales in Thailand, but that is expected to fall as the government continues its push for EVs with subsidies for buyers and manufacturers.

BYD said its new plant would eventually generate about 10,000 jobs and produce 150,000 vehicles a year. When the company launched in Thailand, its distributor offered steep discounts on several models, bringing the cheapest models below $25,000.

That has intensified a price war that further threatens Japanese brands, which are fighting to keep up with cleaner cars of their own.

According to the Thai government, they have committed to investing more in local production of hybrids — which run on both battery motors and internal combustion engines — and electric pickup trucks. Honda started producing EVs in Thailand last December.

As gas-powered cars fall out of favor, some auto parts will be rendered obsolete, such as hydraulic-based steering systems and alternators.

The Thai Auto Parts Manufacturers Assn. has reportedly estimated that only about a dozen of the more than 600 auto parts makers in Thailand will be able to supply Chinese EVs.

Those that can transition to making parts for electric cars may still struggle to compete with Chinese rivals. Some auto parts suppliers have already shuttered as business has contracted.

Supat Ratanasirivilai, managing director of Thai Metal Aluminum, which produces aluminum-made parts for Japanese and American cars, said he has been negotiating with Chinese automakers since the start of the year.

But those talks have stalled since Chinese companies told him that his prices are 30-40% too high.

“We were hoping that when the Japanese carmakers’ production dropped, we may get some benefit from the Chinese carmakers,” he said. “But obviously they are not buying from the Thai suppliers.”

His company is pushing the Thai government to implement more protective measures for local workers, such as requiring EVs to be built with more locally sourced parts.

“The Thai government is really opening up everything for the Chinese carmakers. It has been very difficult for us,” he said. “I don’t know what’s to come next.”

Special correspondent Poypiti Amatatham in Bangkok contributed to this report.

It’s been more than three years since college student Justin Lin binge-watched the first season of Netflix’s “Squid Game” in two days. Now, he can’t wait until Season 2 launches on Netflix on Dec. 26.

Lin was so excited that he drove from the San Gabriel Valley to Hollywood to don a green tracksuit and compete against other fans for a seat at the U.S. premiere.

“It was really exciting — we were all on our heels. We were all on our toes,” Lin said after he watched the first episode of the new season.

The show, about debt-ridden people so desperate for money that they compete in deadly games, remains the most popular program on Netflix with more than 330 million views to date of its first season. In the Korean drama’s first 91 days on Netflix, “Squid Game” Season 1 captured 265.2 million views — the largest amount ever on the platform for any program.

Tom Nunan, a former network and studio executive who teaches at UCLA, thinks the second season could be even bigger.

“The first season was so beloved,” Nunan said. “Now you have something that’s an established title. People don’t have to rely on word of mouth. You’re going to deal with the existing fan base worldwide, along with everybody who wants to check it out for the first time.”

Netflix’s audience is also bigger compared to when “Squid Game” launched in September 2021. Back then, Netflix’s subscribers were nearly 214 million members in the third quarter of 2021. It has since grown 32% to more than 282 million globally.

“I have a lot of confidence that our members who watched Season 1 will definitely love Season 2, and those who actually have not been introduced will find Season 2 will also resonate with them as well,” said Minyoung Kim, Netflix’s vice president of content for Asia Pacific (not including India) in an interview last month.

The second season, a Golden Globe nominee, starts where “Squid Game” left off, with the main character on a mission to end the deadly games.

Netflix has leaned into its international programming, taking big bets on local stories that resonate in specific countries and regions. Sometimes those narratives become global hits, like “Squid Game.”

“Squid Game broke records and became our most popular show ever, proving that great stories can come from anywhere,” said Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, on stage at the “Squid Game” U.S. premiere earlier this month at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. “The cultural impact was massive globally.”

The first season had a budget of $21.4 million or about $2.4 million an episode, according to Bloomberg. Netflix declined to comment on the budgets for either season, but it’s clear the filmmakers had more resources for the new one. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told the Hollywood Reporter: “This time, I was able to fully realize my creative vision, whether it was the set building or CGI. We didn’t have to compromise.”

Netflix has put significant marketing dollars behind the show, hosting fan events in cities that included Sydney and Paris. The streamer also has partnerships with major brands, including Puma, which created the tracksuits the contestants wear in Season 2 and are selling a version of it to fans. Other items include “Squid Game”-themed Crocs and a limited edition “Red Light: Green Light” beef jerky from Jack Link’s.

The company also rolled out a multiplayer game, “Squid Game: Unleashed,” which is available to non-Netflix subscribers for a limited period of time. Netflix announced Monday that it will reward gamers who also tune in to the show, giving them cash or wild tokens in the game based on the number of episodes they watch of Season 2.

And of course, there are the legions of “Squid Game” fans sharing the hype.

“They’ve built a lot of anticipation for it and everyone’s ready for it,” said Jacqueline Yang, a 28-year-old content creator based in downtown L.A. who watched all of Season 1 in one day.

Earlier this month, 1,700 fans, including Yang, participated in a 4.56K run (a reference to Season 1’s main character, Player 456) that started at L.A. City College. They were given tracksuits similar to the ones on the show.

During the event, fans were asked to choose to run through one of three large shapes — a circle, a triangle or a square (the symbols that cover the faces of the masked guards overseeing the show’s games). Participants who chose the correct symbol could attend the screening.

Lin and a friend chose the triangle — the right choice, it turned out.

Yang also chose the triangle, but her mother was not so lucky. The family was separated as Yang’s mother competed in two subsequent games — “Red Light, Green Light” and the scratching of a lottery ticket — but failed.

And even though her mother left the premiere early (Yang’s boyfriend picked her up), she didn’t leave empty-handed; she took home the tracksuit.

“My mom is like, ‘I guess we have our Halloween costumes for this next year,’” Yang said.

A rolling strike of Starbucks baristas has grown since kicking off Friday to include about 300 of the coffee giant’s shops across the U.S., according to the union organizing the work stoppage.

The strike, set to end after Christmas Eve, seeks to pressure Starbucks during the busy holiday season to offer a better wage proposal over what would be a first contract for its workers. Employees also aim to push Starbucks to resolve outstanding unfair labor practice charges filed by workers in recent years.

Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents about 10,000 workers at a few hundred of the ubiquitous chain’s nearly 16,500 U.S. locations, said that baristas in Boston, Philadelphia, Portland and Tucson walked off the job Monday as part of a plan to grow the number of striking employees over the course of the five-day action. They joined baristas in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle who launched the strike and were followed by others in Denver, New York, St. Louis and other cities.

“My co-workers and I made the difficult decision to launch unfair labor practice strikes in hundreds of stores across the country because we know that investing in baristas is the only way to turn things around. These strikes are an initial show of strength, and we’re just getting started,” said Lauren Hollingsworth a barista from Ashland, Ore., in a news release from the union.

The union said the strike is the largest in Starbucks history. The final days before Christmas are traditionally some of Starbucks’ busiest customer traffic times.

Starbucks downplayed the significance of the strike, saying it would make little impact on its overall operations. “The vast majority of our stores (97-99%) will continue to operate and serve customers, and we expect a very limited impact to our overall operations,” said Sara Kelly, executive vice president and chief partner officer, in recently published blog post on Starbucks’ website about the strike.

On Monday, more than 60 store locations were forced to close amid the ongoing strike, the union said. And on Tuesday, Starbucks said 170 of its more than 10,000 company-operated stores in the United States did not open as planned.

The company has criticized the union, saying it “prematurely” ended bargaining sessions last week.

“It is disappointing they didn’t return to the table given the progress we’ve made to date,” the company said in a statement.

Initially, five stores in Southern California were involved in the strike including in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita, Highland Park and Anaheim, said Evelyn Zepeda, organizing director in California for Workers United. That number has expanded to include locations in downtown and elsewhere.

The work stoppages mark a major turning point for Starbucks Workers United, which formed in 2021 and steadily has made headway in its campaign to persuade baristas at Starbucks around the U.S. to join. Hopes that the two sides would be able to hammer out a deal had been high since February, when the company pledged publicly to work with the union and take a more neutral approach toward the drive to organize workers.

The conciliatory stance was an about-face for a company that previously had intensely resisted the campaign to organize its workers. Federal regulators found Starbucks repeatedly violated labor laws by disciplining and firing workers involved in unionizing activity, shutting down stores and stalling contract negotiations.

The National Labor Relations Board has conducted a total of 647 union elections at Starbucks stores, with 109 of them falling short, several others with challenged ballots and 528 currently with certified bargaining units, according to NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado. In California, 66 stores have held union elections and 44 of them have had their bargaining units recognized by the labor board.

Blado said workers have filed more than 700 unfair labor charges against Starbucks, its subsidiary Siren Retail Corp., or its law firm Littler Mendelson, alleging a range of violations. The union has not filed any new charges against Starbucks since late February.