China’s representative signed immediately after U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz at Japan’s 1945 surrender ceremony.
General Hsu Yung-chang signed for China on the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri. The signing sequence placed Nimitz first among the national representatives after MacArthur, followed by Hsu for China, then representatives of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.
China had been at war with Japan since the 1937 escalation of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which later became part of the wider World War II conflict. Chinese forces fought Japan on the mainland throughout the Pacific War.
The ceremony’s order was carefully planned and did not simply follow geography or the number of troops each country contributed. Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand also signed, representing the international Allied coalition.