Japan's political aim is to push Britain and other Western powers out of China while preserving great-power status. Britain's likely aim is narrower but more destructive to Japanese sea power: remove Japan as a naval threat and deny it the ability to rebuild that threat. Japanese strategy assumes that a sufficiently large victory can create leverage at the peace table. British strategy favors sustained war until the opponent lacks the capacity to continue, leaving little common ground for an early settlement.
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War aims and strategic endurance
Japanese hopes for a decisive success and negotiated settlement collide with a British strategy built around continuing the war until the opponent can no longer sustain it.