Highlights

• Baogang Group hosted a high-level Communist Party event focusing on discipline and anti-corruption in the rare earth elements industry.
• Top leadership reinforced strict adherence to Party regulations, positioning the company as a national champion in rare earth development.
• The event highlights China's coordinated approach to controlling the global rare earth supply chain through political and strategic alignment.

Baogang Group, one of China’s largest state-owned enterprises and a key player in the rare earth elements (REE) industry, hosted a high-level Communist Party event this week centered on discipline, anti-corruption (opens in a new tab), and ideological alignment. Themed “Forge Strong Conduct, Build a Clean Defense Line,” the July 1 gathering at Baogang’s Party headquarters reinforced strict adherence to the Chinese Communist Party’s Eight-Point Regulation—a policy designed to curb bureaucratic excess and promote internal compliance.

Baogang’s top leadership, including Party Secretary and Chairman Meng Fanying and General Manager Li Xiao, participated in the study session and symbolic activities, such as oath renewals and reviews of anti-corruption cases. Officials emphasized the importance of “hard work, responsibility, and political integrity” to position Baogang as a national champion in building China’s two flagship rare earth bases—one focused on raw materials and another on deep processing.

Is this more than a routine Party-building exercise?  Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) suggests so.  It reflects Beijing’s broader strategy of aligning state-run industrial giants, such as Baogang, with national security and strategic resource goals. Political loyalty and strict internal discipline are increasingly viewed as prerequisites for participation in China's ambitious effort to control not only the mining but also the high-tech, value-added segments of the global REE supply chain.

For U.S. and allied policymakers, this underscores a crucial distinction: while Western firms debate permitting timelines and haphazardly use market structures with some government grants to catch up, China’s vertically integrated REE giants are being ideologically hardened and strategically coordinated from the top down. If America hopes to build a resilient REE industrial base, it must not underestimate the political machinery behind China’s rare earth power.