蔣介石對於戰後處置日本的方向，已於開羅會議上呈現，並要求戰後在華的日偽公私產業等，均應供作賠償中國損失之用。然而開羅會議主要共識是日本必須無條件投降，未論及賠償。對於戰後東亞國際秩序的安排，有兩個關鍵會議，一是1945年2月的雅爾達會議；一是1945年7月的波茨坦會議，但中國均未能參與這兩次會議，以致未能與聞戰後東亞秩序的重構。過去的研究指出，蔣介石對戰敗的日本採取「以德報怨」政策，是為戰後中日結盟鋪路，用以牽制美、英、蘇等西方列強的亞洲政策；亦有學者認為，蔣介石戰後對日友善，是為了制蘇及聯日反共。這兩類論述均言之成理，然從國民政府派赴國外人員的報告可見在雅爾達會議後，關注重心轉移至對蘇交涉，已無暇顧及向英、美表達對日處置的意見。故當蔣介石同意列名發表「波茨坦宣言」後，中國對日處置方針也因此定調。

The post-war treatment of Japan was decided by the USA, the USSR and the UK, and not by China, even though China was one of the Allies. At Cairo Chiang Kai-shek had raised the question of reparations and proposed that all Japanese property in China, private as well as public, should be handed to China as compensation. However, at Cairo the Allies made few decisions about post-war Japan, other than agreeing that Japan had to surrender unconditionally.It was only at the Yalta Conference of February 1945 and at the Potsdam Conference in late July 1945 that more substantive decisions were made about the postwar order in East Asia. China was not officially represented at either conference, so her influence was very little.Chiang Kai-shek's general policy was to 'repay aggression with kindness' (yide baoyuan). Iechika Ryoko argued that Chiang Kai-shek announced this policy before Japan's surrender to prepare the ground for a post-war Sino-Japanese alliance to counter the likely efforts of Britain, the USA, and the Soviet Union to rebuild their former positions in Asia or carve out new ones. Huang Tzu-chin argued that Chiang Kai-shek hoped for Japan's assistance in countering the Soviet Union and suppressing Communism in China. This article examines the information and advice from overseas staff and then detects that Nationalist Government's attention exchanges the treatment of post-war Japan for dealing with Yalta Conference's impact. When Japan admitted her fail, Chiang Kai-shek wanted to get the Allies' help, so he had no choice to follow the Potsdam Declaration to formulate his view on the post-war treatment of Japan.