Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea

The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) is an agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of an incident at sea between the countries in the agreement, and — in the event that one occurs — to prevent it from escalating.

Twenty one countries have joined the agreement, including Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Tonga, the United States and Vietnam.

[5] During her 2015 deployment to the South China Sea, USS Fort Worth encountered several warships of the People's Liberation Army Navy, putting the new CUES rules into practice in a "professional" manner.

[7] Erik French of the Center for Strategic and International Studies has said that the voluntary nature of CUES and its limitation to purely military naval forces limit its usefulness in the Asia Pacific region.

[8] The agreement discourages aviators from making "unfriendly physical gestures" towards one another.

Chinese and United States warships sailing together during a training exercise off Hawaii in 2013. Both countries signed the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea in 2014. [ 1 ]