Political saying to leave the possibility for new nations open, just like they said they are working on english light tanks / french, japan spaas, this could still need years until the next nation gets added.
They first need to fix israel and make japan a bit better before they think about adding a new nation
So again why did they need to add that top line if they aren’t adding a new nation ?
They could of said,
Bonuses for researching new in-game nations as we introduce new nations,
it becomes increasingly challenging to capture the attention of veteran players.
They have already traversed the ranks multiple times, and therefore,
each new journey through a different tree becomes less captivating.
To be fair it teased a new nation and rank VIII ground in general, not for this year.
Rank VIII ground in 2023 only started to really become a thing with the olivia T-90M mention and the “more Leopard 2s for Germany this year” statement from Smin last update.
Japan still has stuff to add Air and Ground, Gaijin just prefer to take a Type 16/10 and add another P to the name and call it a day
Japan has links to other countries, Thailand as mentioned, maybe it becomes a tree for other Asian nations, maybe it borrows tech from the US forces stationed
Plenty of suggestions have been put forward, but if nothing happens Japan gets left behind… and at the end of the day its a game, and there is money to be made for Gaijin