China’s representative signed immediately after the United States at Japan’s 1945 surrender ceremony.
After General Douglas MacArthur signed for the Allied powers and Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States, General Xu Yongchang signed for the Republic of China. He was followed by representatives of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, and the Netherlands.
China’s place in the signing order reflected its status as one of the principal Allied powers in the war against Japan. China had been fighting Japan since 1937, before the wider Pacific War began, and Chinese forces had endured a prolonged conflict across the mainland.
The ceremony’s order can be confused because MacArthur signed before Nimitz, but MacArthur was signing as the Allied supreme commander rather than as a national representative. Nimitz represented the United States, and Xu Yongchang was the next national representative to sign. The ceremony took place aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.