The later Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies should not be projected backward onto the 1913 programme. Dutch, Japanese, Italian, Brazilian, and Chilean naval development all participated in a broad British technology network. Dutch designers also exchanged ideas with British and German engineering communities, giving the Netherlands access to competing schools of warship design. The Anglo-Japanese alliance made Japan a less immediate threat, although Dutch planners still watched its growing fleet.
Notable Point · 5:23-6:50
Why Japan was not yet the central Dutch threat
Shared British-derived naval technology and the Anglo-Japanese alliance made Japan a less immediate Dutch concern than later history might suggest.