Baogang Signals Acceleration of China’s Rare Earth Endgame in New Five-Year Plan

Jan 5, 2026

Highlights

  • Baogang Group's Third Plenary Session closed its 14th Five-Year Plan and launched an ambitious 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).
  • The new plan targets world-class enterprise status through rare earth industrial leadership and vertically integrated manufacturing.
  • The plan prioritizes accelerating China's 'two rare earth bases' strategy.
  • Focus is placed on downstream control of advanced materials, magnets, and defense-relevant applications rather than just mining operations.
  • This strategic shift reinforces China's rare earth supply chain dominance through:
    • Technology self-reliance
    • Consolidated processing capacity
    • State-directed industrial policy
  • The plan raises significant barriers for Western reshoring efforts.

On January 4, 2026, the Communist Party Committee of Baogang Group convened its Third Plenary Session of the 9th Party Committee at the Baogang Convention & Exhibition Center in Inner Mongolia. The meeting formally closed Baogangโ€™s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021โ€“2025) and set strategic direction for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026โ€“2030).

Chairman and Party Secretary Meng Fanying declared that Baogang will aim to become a โ€œworld-class enterpriseโ€ ahead of all other regional state-owned firms, explicitly tying this ambition to rare earth industrial leadership, advanced materials, and vertically integrated manufacturing services. Management presented early details of Baogangโ€™s โ€œ15th Five-Year Development Plan,โ€ emphasizing stronger industrial control, technology self-reliance, and higher value-added downstream output.

A core pillar is accelerating construction of โ€œtwo rare earth basesโ€โ€”a long-standing Chinese policy objective referring to full-chain rare earth production hubs spanning extraction, separation, materials engineering, and advanced manufacturing applications. Owning the downstream innovation as _Rare Earth Exchanges_โ„ข has reported. Baogang signaled its intent to be the primary industrial backbone for this strategy.

The company also emphasized:

  • Expansion into advanced materials and integrated solution services
  • Deepened state-directed R&D and proprietary technology development
  • Aggressive digitalization and green transformation
  • Industrial investment to build a world-class manufacturing services ecosystem
  • Governance reforms aligned with centralized political oversight

The tone of the meeting underscored discipline, execution, and national strategic alignment, framing Baogang not just as a commercial entity but as an industrial instrument of Chinaโ€™s modernization and resource security agenda.

Relevance for the U.S. and the West

This announcement is noteworthy because it confirms accelerationโ€”not moderationโ€”of Chinaโ€™s rare earth industrial strategy heading into 2026:

  • Downstream control signal: Baogang explicitly prioritizes advanced materials, solutions, and manufacturing servicesโ€”not just miningโ€”reinforcing Chinaโ€™s grip on value-added rare earth applications (magnets, alloys, defense-relevant materials).
  • Rare earth base consolidation: The โ€œtwo rare earth basesโ€ concept points to further concentration of processing, IP, and production capacity, raising barriers for Western reshoring efforts.
  • Technology self-reliance: Emphasis on autonomous innovation suggests reduced openness to foreign technology transfer.
  • Industrial policy clarity: The plan aligns SOE execution with national objectives, giving Chinese firms structural advantages Western companies lack.

For U.S. policymakers, defense planners, and industrial investors, this reinforces the reality that Chinaโ€™s rare earth dominance is being actively reinforced across the full supply chain, not merely preserved.

Disclaimer: This news item is based on reporting from Baogang Daily, a publication of a state-owned Chinese enterprise. Statements and plans reflect official policy messaging and should be independently verified before forming business, policy, or investment conclusions.

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By Daniel

Inspired to launch Rare Earth Exchanges in part due to his lifelong passion for geology and mineralogy, and patriotism, to ensure America and free market economies develop their own rare earth and critical mineral supply chains.

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