Chinese financial regulators are stepping up their scrutiny of technology companies, ordering an antitrust investigation of Alibaba and requesting Ant Group to rectify its businesses and comply with regulatory requirements. The regime also issued new “antitrust reports” on Dec. 25, detailing the number of investigations that were begun by authorities in 2019, including on foreign joint ventures and Chinese private companies, and the penalty fees imposed on them. Analysts believe Beijing is focusing its efforts on major corporations because it needs to seize capital, as China’s economy continues its downward trend and government coffers dry up. Antitrust Crackdown The State Administration for Market Regulation’s annual report on “China’s anti-monopoly law enforcement,” showed that in 2019, authorities initiated 103 monopoly cases and closed 46 cases. Companies were fined a total of 320 million yuan (about $49 million). The report also mentioned that investigations into many well-known multinational companies with operations in …