Our Policies Toward the Puppet Troops and
Our Views About the Treatment of the
Puppet Officers and Soldiers

(August 17, 1941)

Chen [Yi] and Liu [Shaoqi]:

With regard to your telegram of the 6th on policies toward the puppet troops and
treatment of the puppet officers and soldiers, we have the following views:
1. The method we should use toward the puppet troops is to apply both virtue
and authority. If we do not fight, they cannot be compelled to submit and our
army's authority cannot be established. Yet fighting alone is bound to create life
and death enmity. Both extreme policies, that of not fighting and that of fighting
and nothing else, are disadvantageous to us.
2. Two-faced elements do indeed exist among the puppet troops and are bound
to exist. We should acknowledge the position of the two-faced elements and control them so that they do not go over to the enemy's side altogether and oppose us.
This understanding is very necessary.
3. In principle, whether they are officers or soldiers and no matter what social
background they come from, no puppet troop captives are to be killed. Even those
elements who have a deep hatred for us and come back to fight us again after
being released may be spared execution. That is, the method of repeated capturing
and releasing is better than killing, and its impact is greater. In releasing captives,
there should be absolutely no posting of bail, and they should not be made to vow
that they will never be puppet soldiers in the future. But they can be required to
swear that they will not really help the Japanese oppose the New Fourth Army in
the future. And if they do actually violate their oath and help Japan fight us, then
we should still patiently carry out the policy of "seven times capturing Meng Huo."¹

4. More efforts should be made with the captives from Li Changjiang's² troops,
and a group of them should be won over to go and break up Li's internal ranks.

Mao [Zedong] Wang [Jiaxiang] Tan [Zheng] Fu [Zhong]

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 661-62, where it is reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1. This refers to an episode in the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in
which Zhuge Liang eventually wins over Meng Huo by capturing and releasing him seven
times.

2. Li Changjiang had been a guerrilla commander in the Guomindang Army and surrendered with seven of his columns to Japan on February 13, 1941. They became the first army
group of the puppet army.