Why the Dutch struggled to secure outside help

Could the Dutch have built a joint command or traded resources to obtain protection before Japan attacked?

Options existed, but Allied overstretch, American neutrality, and Japan's unreliability made meaningful early assistance hard to secure.

The Dutch faced a timing problem because likely partners were either fighting elsewhere or politically unwilling to commit. Britain and Australia were already stretched, while the United States remained formally neutral and focused on its own priorities. That neutrality constrained an American shipbuilding or joint-command arrangement in 1939. A resource bargain with Japan offered no dependable substitute because Tokyo might abandon it after choosing war with the United States.