The postwar course of British foreign policy in Southern and Far Eastern Asia was foreshadowed in September and October, 1945. Then, in compliance with a decision of the Potsdam Conference, British forces landed in Java to receive the surrender of the Japanese in the Dutch colonies. Though the British government recognized Dutch sovereignty over the colonies — its leaders had second thoughts after encountering the new Asia in Java. With Japanese support an Indonesian republic had been proclaimed. To enforce strictly the recognition of the Dutch claim would have required forces far more numerous than the British had at their disposal, and there were rumblings in India against the use of British Indian forces in restoring colonial government. Indonesian resistance in some areas revealed an intensity and determination that led the British government to decide that fighting might be formidable and dangerous. Thus, though Britain did not favor the raising of the Indonesian issue in the United Nations, for to do so was to have the United Nations intervene in a colonial dispute, Britain did favor negotiations between the Dutch authorities and the Indonesian leaders. In its first major confrontation with postwar Asian nationalism Britain sought to avoid commitment to serious military action and recognized the necessity of coming to terms with Asian nationalism and its leaders.