ABSTRACT
Chinese political economists were thus divided between two different approaches towards promoting Taiwan's economic recovery and industrialization. A political economist, Gou Kangshu, also favored the concept of a “planned free economy” on the grounds that the guiding hand of the state would facilitate the more efficient functioning of the market economy. A strong reaction to these novel arguments came in the form of a counter-attack by a number of “Sunist” theoreticians, most of whom were mainland Chinese representatives in the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly. Chiang Kai-shek had always believed that land reform would undermine any potential social and political support for the Chinese Communist Party. During the Japanese colonial period, the highly unequal distribution of arable land in Taiwan was the source of tension between landlords and tenants. The incidence of such disputes had increased in the 1920s, before moderating slightly during the following decade.
