Highlights
- China Northern Rare Earth held a theoretical study session focused on tightening Party discipline and combating corruption.
- Senior executives participated in mandatory ideological training with zero tolerance for rule violations.
- The company demonstrates an increasing transformation from an industrial leader to an ideological outpost of the Chinese Communist Party.
China Northern Rare Earth held its ninth theoretical study session of 2025 (opens in a new tab), focusing squarely on deepening ideological discipline and cracking down on “improper eating and drinking”—a symbolic shorthand in China for corruption, lavish banquets, and disloyalty to the Party. The study session was led by Chairman and Party Secretary Liu Peixun, with participation from CEO Qu Yedong and senior Party cadres across corporate departments.
Participants studied multiple Party documents, including Xi Jinping’s Chapter 9 treatise on normalizing “work style construction,” as well as newly publicized disciplinary cases from Inner Mongolia and a scathing report on repeat violators. Officials were instructed to speak in a “first-person confession” style, reflecting on their personal responsibilities.
The session’s tone was uncompromising. Cadres were warned against disregarding anti-corruption rules or disseminating misinformation online. Specific directives called for rigorous self-checks across 7 areas and 23 infractions, with zero tolerance for “borderline” violations.
REEx Insight:
While framed as an internal ethics campaign, this crackdown—linked to Xi’s broader Eight-Point Regulation enforcement—reveals the extent of political control within strategic sectors, such as rare earths. Notably, Northern Rare Earth is treating ideological enforcement as mission-critical to the execution of its Five-Year Plan.
Northern Rare Earth has a dual identity: a dominant global supplier of rare earths and a tightly controlled political arm of the Chinese Communist Party. For Western stakeholders, it underscores the need to build alternative supply chains that prioritize market transparency, corporate accountability, and operational independence.
The CCP is visibly tightening its grip on China’s Northern Rare Earth, transforming the company from a state-owned industrial leader into an increasingly ideological outpost of Party discipline. The latest theoretical study session—one of several held in rapid succession—demonstrates a shift from conventional governance toward overt political oversight. By mandating first-person confessions, prescribing detailed behavioral codes, and linking compliance to national policy directives, such as the Central Eight-Point Regulation, Party authorities are embedding loyalty enforcement deeply into the company’s operational DNA. The inclusion of senior executives in these sessions signals that ideological conformity is no longer symbolic—it is now a prerequisite for advancement and a structural component of governance in the rare earth sector. This intensification of CCP control raises critical questions for global partners: How much autonomy do Chinese rare earth firms retain when strategic decisions are increasingly filtered through the lens of Party orthodoxy?
Source: Official Northern Rare Earth Party Committee release via Baogang Group, Inner Mongolia regional Party documents
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