Balanced bargaining and visible Japanese construction

Starting from 200,000-ton units, the proposal tests ship counts for Britain and the Commonwealth, the United States, Japan, France, and Italy. The diplomatic test is comparable satisfaction and dissatisfaction, so no delegation believes that it has been cheated. Japan benefits from permission to build a larger open cruiser programme, which gives treaty compliance a tangible reward. Because Japanese yards would need imported resources, that programme would also deepen exposure to embargo, blockade, and other economic coercion. If Japan failed to build ships it was openly allowed, the treaty partners could treat idle or concealed yard activity as a warning that capacity was going elsewhere.