The "pacification" emphasized posting troops in every tribe in order to control then, and putting them in compounds surrounded by electric fences. By "managing" the tribes, they meant doing their most to subjugate every last aborigine and moving tribes from deep within the mountains to the foothills and tablelands closer to the plains, where they would be more easily controlled under the watchful eye of police.
撫番的重點是將各族控製於駐軍、電網圈圍住的隘勇線內；理番的重點則是全力征討本島各族部落，將居於深山中的族人，遷徙至淺山、台地等易於控制之地，並廣設警察駐在所監視控制。