Chen Rudai

    

Senior General Chen Rudai
陳如岱
Minister of National Defense
In office 20 May 2004 – 28 April 2010
President	Ren Longyun
Preceded by	Zeng Yilin
Succeeded by	Jia Yubing
Personal details
Born	(1945-10-07) October 7, 1945 Qiancheng, Hunan, Republic of China
Education	PLA National Defence University PLA Command and Staff College
Military service
Allegiance	People's Republic of China Republic of China
Branch/service	People's Liberation Army Ground Force Republic of China Army
Years of service	1963–2010
Rank	Senior general
Unit	164th Infantry Division
Battles/wars	Angolan Civil War Sino-Tajik War Xinjiang insurgency

Senior General Chen Rudai (Chinese: 陳如岱, born 7 October 1945) is a retired Republic of China Army officer who served as the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of China from 2004 to 2010 and the Commander of the Army from 2000 to 2004. As the Defense Minister he was the architect of the 2008 Chinese military reform, initiating the restructuring of China's armed forces in the aftermath of the Cold War. He commanded a division and a military region before reaching senior command, and was in charge of operations during the phase of the Xinjiang insurgency from 1992 to 1996. Since retiring from the military in 2010 he has been an advisor to the president on military affairs.

Early life

Chen Rudai was born in 1945 in Qiancheng, in the Hunan province. His father had fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War, and so Chen decided to join the army as an officer. In 1963 he entered the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (now the Republic of China Military Academy), and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in March 1966.

Military service

Serving as an infantry officer, Chen was first assigned to the 164th Infantry Division, eventually being a company and battalion commander. He became a lieutenant in February 1968 and then a captain in November 1974. From 1976 to 1980 Chen served as part of the Chinese Military Mission in Angola, assisting UNITA against the United Commonwealth-backed MPLA during the Angolan Civil War, where he gained combat experience. He was promoted to major upon his return in October 1980 and was part of the 164th Division, before being promoted to lieutenant colonel in December 1982 and being reassigned to the Xinjiang Military Region. There, his unit took part in counter-insurgency operations along the China-Tajikistan border to prevent a spillover of the Sino-Tajik War into Chinese territory.

In early 1984 Chen Rudai was deployed to Tajikistan as part of the Chinese Military Mission there at the height of the Sino-Tajik War. He help organize the defenses of several cities against United Tajik Opposition attacks, and was promoted to colonel in January 1985. Chen fought in the successful defense of Khorugh in early 1986 from a massive mujahedin assault. After returning to China towards the end of that year he attended the PLA Ground Force Command and Staff College. Chen graduated in April 1988 and was promoted to major general. He became the commander of the 76th Infantry Division in the Nanjing Military Region from then until December 1992, at which point he was named deputy chief of staff of the Xinjiang Military Region. In July 1994 he was promoted to lieutenant general and became the deputy commander of the Xinjiang MR. In the period from 1992 until 1996 he had overseen counter-insurgency operations against Uygher separatist groups. Chen was reassigned to the Ministry of National Defense in Beijing in May 1996, becoming Director of Strategic Planning.

At the Defense Ministry he worked on the initial proposals and plans for modernizing the People's Liberation Army during the late 1990s, such as adopting a more integrated force structure that would be more capable of combined arms maneuver warfare, as well as developing missile technology to counter the naval advantage held by China's adversaries. After the fall of communism in China in 1999 and the restoration of the republic in early 2000, Chen Rudai was promoted to general and from January 2000 was the Commander of the renamed Republic of China Army. As the Army Commander he began to implement some of the reforms that were proposed in the late 1990s to bring the Army into the 21st century. That included the formation of some of the first combined arms brigades and the elimination of large divisions that were intended for conventional defense from a foreign invasion but not as capable of offensive operations. In 2003, an Army Command HQ was created, because during the Communist era the PLA Ground Force did not have a separate headquarters, which was the result of politics and reduced efficiency. He also oversaw the response to the Xinjiang insurgency, although he was not directly involved in the operations to restore order in the region.

Minister of Defense

In May 2004, General Chen was appointed as the Minister of National Defense in the Han Zhanshu cabinet. He saw his main task as modernizing the ROC Armed Forces to make them on a comparable level to those of Anglo-American and European countries, and make them capable of potential offensive operations in China's vicinity or further abroad, to match the increasing economic dominance of China. His efforts were initially hampered by other generals who did not want to change the force by following the reforms, and the government's priority at that time was the economy.

However, in 2008, President Ren Longyun endorsed Chen's plan to reform the military, beginning the main stage of the reform. The old structure of military region - field army - division - regiment was eliminated and gradually replaced by a military region - corps - brigade structure. The command structure was more integrated for combined arms operations, with ground, air, and naval assets being subordinated to each military region headquarters and being able to more effectively coordinate. New weapons, equipment, and vehicles were developed and tested extensively before entering production, such as the Chengdu J-20 fifth generation fighter and the Type 99 tank.

The Sino-Burmese War took place early on in the reform process, in July 2009. The military achieved its objectives against the Myanmar Armed Forces but also showed its deficiencies. By 2010, the military reform was well underway. Chen retired from the Army in April 2010 and was succeeded as the Minister of National Defense by General Jia Yubing.

Later work

Since his retirement from the military in 2010, Chen has been a lecturer at the Republic of China Military Academy and a contributor at the National Defense and Security Institute. From 2012 to 2016 he was the superintendent of the Republic of China War College.

Personal life

He is married and has three children, one of whom is also an officer in the Army.

Awards and decorations

China

• Order of Blue Sky and White Sun, Grand Cordon
• Order of National Glory, Grand Cordon
• Order of the Cloud and Banner, Yellow Grand Cordon
• Order of Loyalty and Diligence
• Medal of the Armed Forces
• Medal of the Brilliant Light
• Medal of Outstanding Staff
• Medal of Army Achievement
• Medal of Excellent Efficiency
• Medal of Outstanding Service
• Honour Sabre of the Awakened Lion