Xu Yongchang led the Allied representatives who followed Nimitz at Japan's 1945 surrender ceremony.
General Xu Yongchang represented the Republic of China at the ceremony aboard USS Missouri. After MacArthur signed for the Allied powers and Nimitz signed for the United States, Xu signed on behalf of China. Representatives from seven other Allied nations then signed.
China had been at war with Japan since 1937, years before the wider Pacific War began. The Chinese government therefore held a prominent place among the victorious Allied powers, even though the ceremony took place in Tokyo Bay and was dominated by American naval and military personnel.
Xu is sometimes identified incorrectly with Chiang Kai-shek, China's wartime leader. Chiang did not attend the Missouri ceremony. Xu's role was a formal military-diplomatic one, and his signature made China one of the principal Allied signatories of Japan's surrender.