The revised arrangement separates battlecruiser tonnage while allowing France and Italy to combine their allocations into 265,000-ton capital-ship pools. Japan's separate battleship and battlecruiser allowances would total 459,000 tons. The proposal is political as well as arithmetic: arms-control systems endure when their participants see them as broadly serving their interests. An equitable settlement need not give every government everything it wants, but it must satisfy enough of each government's security, economy, and prestige goals. A ten-year restraint becomes more credible if disarmers obtain limits and navies still obtain forces they can regard as adequate. Treaty legitimacy therefore matters as much as nominal equality.
Notable Point · 36:14-39:45
A treaty each power has reason to keep
The proposal aims for an equitable, not equal, settlement: each navy gives up something but retains enough security and building opportunity to support the treaty.