China signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender immediately after the United States representative.
Admiral Chester Nimitz signed for the United States after Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers. General Hsu Yung-chang then signed for China, making China the next Allied country represented in the signing sequence.
China had been fighting Japan since the Second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, years before the United States entered World War II. Chinese forces and civilians had endured a prolonged conflict across much of the country.
The remaining Allied signatories followed in a carefully arranged order. The United Kingdom was represented by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, the Soviet Union by Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevyanko, and other representatives signed for Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The order reflected the ceremony’s formal diplomatic and military planning, not a ranking of each country’s contribution.