Party Above All: Northern Rare Earth Deepens Ideological Oversight, Tightens Controls on Conduct and Public Messaging

Highlights

• China’s Northern Rare Earth Group convened a high-level meeting emphasizing the Communist Party’s comprehensive authority in corporate governance.
• Leadership reviewed performance reports, work style evaluations, and strategic propaganda plans under Party oversight.
• Company pledged to elevate external communications and enforce strict adherence to central Party directives.

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Northern Rare Earth Group (opens in a new tab), China’s flagship rare earth producer, convened a high-level meeting of its Party Building Leadership Group, signaling an ongoing, deepening integration of Communist Party oversight into corporate governance, internal conduct, and external communications.

Chaired by Chairman and Party Secretary Liu Peixun, the meeting brought together top executives, members of the Party committee, and departmental heads. The agenda was overtly political: studying President Xi Jinping’s latest remarks during his inspection tour of Henan, reviewing the 13th session of the Central Party Building Leadership Group, and enforcing strict adherence to new central directives—particularly the crackdown on “improper eating and drinking,” a euphemism for official corruption, privilege, and lax discipline.

Documents reviewed included:

• A mid-year performance report on Party-building in Northern Rare Earth
• A work style evaluation of senior leadership and administrative staff
• An action plan for integrating Party-building in mixed-ownership enterprises
• A strategic proposal for elevating the company’s external propaganda efforts

The tone was unmistakably top-down. Executives were ordered to “accelerate education, investigation, and reform” in alignment with the Party’s “Eight-Point Regulation” and to eliminate improper conduct through self-inspection. Party leadership was framed not as a symbolic role, but as a “comprehensive authority” that must “deeply fuse with company governance,” especially in joint ventures and mixed-ownership units.

The company also pledged to upgrade its propaganda capabilities, calling for “full-spectrum publicity” of its industrial and ideological achievements, reinforcing its status as a national champion enterprise.