Highlights
- Liu Peixun leads top-down ideological inspection at Hefar Rare Earth, emphasizing Party discipline and political orthodoxy in industrial operations.
- China strategically blends political control with industrial ambition, creating vertically unified command chains in critical sectors like rare earth production.
- Party loyalty is positioned as co-dependent with corporate performance, revealing how state ideology fundamentally shapes business strategy in Chinese enterprises.
In a rare publicized move blending ideology with industry, Liu Peixun—Chairman of Northern Rare Earth Group and senior executive of Baotou Steel—led a top-down inspection of subsidiary Hefar Rare Earth, enforcing the latest round of Communist Party ideological education centered on the Eight-Point Regulation (opens in a new tab), a campaign aimed at strengthening party discipline and rooting out “undesirable work styles.”
According to Chinese-language state and company sources, the visit was framed as a directive to integrate political orthodoxy into all aspects of production, management, and reform at the enterprise level. Liu emphasized “deep learning and comprehension” of Xi Jinping’s core statements on Party conduct, mandating full participation and ideological conformity among all cadres. The inspection extended to equipment operations and production safety, but its primary focus was unmistakably political.
Notably, Liu called for blending this ideological push with business objectives, framing Party conduct as inseparable from operational targets, technological innovation, and the strategic development of China’s “two rare earth bases” (likely referencing the Baotou and Ganzhou hubs). The underlying message: Party loyalty and corporate performance are not only compatible, but co-dependent.
This development provides a glimpse into how China combines political control with industrial ambition, particularly in critical sectors such as rare earths. For Western observers and competitors, several key implications emerge from monitoring Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx).
| REEx: Implications | Summary | |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic Alignment Through Ideology | While Western companies debate ESG, DEI, and shareholder activism (although USA has tossed this out), China’s rare earth sector is reinforcing top-down ideological alignment with national priorities. This creates vertically unified political-industrial command chains that Western democracies cannot easily replicate or counterbalance | |
| Risk to JV Partners and IP | For Western firms with exposure to Chinese rare earth joint ventures or supply dependencies, political orthodoxy may take precedence over commercial logic. Decision-making is subject not just to market forces or regulations, but to ideological campaigns. | |
| Authoritarian Resilience in Critical Materials | For Western firms with exposure to Chinese rare earth joint ventures or supply dependencies, political orthodoxy may take precedence over commercial logic. Decision-making is subject not just to market forces or regulations, but to ideological campaigns. | |
Key Questions
- Can Western firms remain competitive if industrial production abroad is tied to state ideology while their own systems remain fragmented by market-only incentives?
- How will political campaigns like these affect transparency, worker morale, and decision-making in China’s rare earth supply chain?
- Should U.S. and EU policymakers rethink the strategic risks of relying on materials produced in companies where Communist Party discipline overrides corporate autonomy? Obviously, the unfolding trade war throws that into serious doubt.
When it comes to the rare earth supply chain, China does not separate politics from business. In rare earths, Party control is not a bug—it’s the operating system.
Rare Earth Exchanges
Exposing the global strategies behind the dominance of critical minerals and rare earth element supply chains.
Leave a Reply