The signatories were France, the United States, and most members of the British Commonwealth: Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom (on behalf of itself and "all parts of the British Empire which are not separate Members of the League of Nations"). Two Commonwealth Dominions declined to sign: South Africa and the Irish Free State, the latter because it had no navy. Japan, a signatory of the First London Naval Treaty and already at war on the Asian mainland, withdrew from the conference on 15 January. Italy also declined to sign the treaty, largely as a result of the controversy over its invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia); Italy was under sanctions from the League of Nations.