Highlights

• Baogang Group's recent press releases signal China's strategic tightening of global rare earth supply chain control as it transitions from the 14th to 15th Five-Year Plan.
• Major achievements include:
  • Expanding Bayan Obo exploration
  • Reaching 100,000 tons annual magnet production
  • Launching the world's first 5G unmanned rare earth mine
  • Dominating global smelting and separation markets
• China is widening its rare earth dominance gap through vertical integration, technological self-reliance, and digital transformation, making Western supply chain diversification increasingly urgent.

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Baogang Group—the state-owned anchor of China’s rare earth empire—used two coordinated press releases this week to telegraph something larger than internal Party education: yet another strategic tightening of China’s command over the global rare earth supply chain.

The announcements, issued via Baogang Daily, frame the company’s path from its 14th Five-Year Plan into the 15th with an unmistakable message: China is accelerating technological self-reliance, deeper industrial integration, and ironclad control of the world’s most important rare earth resources at Bayan Obo.

The first release highlights a high-level Party training session attended by Baogang’s top leadership, emphasizing alignment with Xi Jinping’s modernization agenda and the 15th Five-Year Plan. For outside observers, this reads less like routine political study and more like ideological preparation before major strategic industrial shifts.

Notably, Professor Zhang Huijun of the Central Party School stressed three priorities that should catch the attention of Western policymakers:

1. High-level technological self-reliance
2. Building a modern industrial system
3. Strengthening China’s domestic market as a buffer against global volatility.

All three directly intersect with the rare earth strategy.

The second release—far more substantive—offers a sweeping review of Baogang’s “14th Five-Year Plan” achievements, and its accomplishments are significant:

Plan Elements	Details
A massive expansion of rare earth raw material security	Through new exploration at Bayan Obo and scaled recycling bases reaching “tens of thousands of tons.”
Smelting and separation dominance	Baotou now leads the world in REE separation, permanent magnet alloy output, and controls more than half the global market in several core products.
Breakthroughs in R&D	99.999% pure rare earth metal targets, kilogram-scale high-purity scandium oxide, and a national first in solid-state hydrogen storage demonstration systems.
100,000 tons of annual rare earth magnet production	Cementing China’s unmatched magnet supply chain depth
Digital transformation	The world’s first 5G unmanned rare earth mine and a 20,000P industrial computing center
Major steel-rare earth integration	Including rare earth pipeline steel used in the China–Russia and West–East gas pipeline projects

For the United States and allies, the implications are stark: China is not merely maintaining its rare earth dominance—it is working furiously to widen the gap through vertically integrated industrial policy, digitization, and scale. Baogang’s messaging suggests the 15th Five-Year Plan will push even harder into autonomous, high-tech, end-use applications—making diversification away from Chinese REE supply even more urgent.

Disclaimer: This article is based on information published by Baogang Daily, a media outlet of a Chinese state-owned entity. All details should be independently verified before forming business, policy, or investment conclusions.

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