Highlights
- SASAC oversees 97 central state-owned enterprises with $116 trillion in assets, acting as a command center for China’s strategic industrial policy.
- The organization actively allocates capital in critical sectors like energy, rare earths, and telecommunications, transforming enterprises into instruments of national strategy.
- Western nations must understand SASAC’s coordinated approach to industrial development, which provides a significant competitive advantage in critical mineral supply chains.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (opens in a new tab) (SASAC) of China is not just a bureaucratic agency—it is the command post of the Chinese state’s industrial machine. Formed in 2003 to consolidate control over strategic industries, SASAC now oversees 97 central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) whose combined assets exceed $116 trillion USD, and whose revenues rival the GDPs of G7 nations.
SASAC’s mission has evolved from passive ownership to active capital allocation in industries deemed “strategic” by the State Council, such as energy, aerospace, rare earths, infrastructure, telecommunications, and mining. Its companies are not just corporate giants—they are instruments of national policy, fusing enterprise execution with Party leadership.
SASAC appoints executives, approves mergers, and steers capital into sectors tied to national security, technological leadership, and geopolitical resilience.
Among these central SOEs are China Minmetals, Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco), Baogang Steel, and China National Nuclear Corp—all critical actors in global rare earth and critical mineral supply chains. They operate under a shareholder model cloaked in Party discipline, where profit matters, but political alignment and strategic contribution matter more.
Why This Matters to the West
In the context of rare earth elements and critical minerals, understanding SASAC is essential. Western governments rely on fragmented, mostly private-sector supply chains, where each link must fend for itself under market pressures. In China, SASAC aligns resources across mining, refining, processing, R&D, and logistics. The result: seamless industrial capacity backed by state power and scale.
For example, when China Minmetals builds a lithium or rare earth facility, it does so with SASAC-blessed funding, inter-SOE logistics, long-term security mandates, and alignment with multi-decade national plans. Compare that to MP Materials or Lynas, which face quarterly market pressures, capital risk, permitting hurdles, and fragmented end markets, suggests Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx).
Western supply chain initiatives—however well-funded—must contend with a reality: SASAC’s model outpaces capitalism alone (at least in the short to intermediate term). The U.S. Department of Defense’s recent investment in MP Materials is a long-overdue step. Still, without a structural rethink—vertical integration, industrial policy, and long-horizon planning—the West may remain technologically dependent even as it spends billions to “reshore.”
REEx Take
To secure critical minerals, the West must study not just China’s companies but China’s machinery of control. SASAC is that machinery. It coordinates policy, capital, personnel, and production into a unified system. Understanding it isn’t optional—it’s strategic survival.
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