The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) is an agreement reached at the 2014

Western Pacific Naval Symposium The Western Pacific Naval Symposium are a series of biennial meetings of the Pacific nations to discuss naval matters held on even numbered years. A WPNS workshop is held on odd numbered years in between the symposiums. History At the International ...

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. Taiwan, a non-signatory state also reportedly implements the agreement. CUES had been proposed a decade earlier, but

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

opposed earlier versions, because of references to potential legal standing.

History

In December 2014, the

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...

and the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

practiced CUES during an anti-piracy exercise in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

. During her 2015 deployment to the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

, encountered several warships of the People's Liberation Army Navy, putting the new CUES rules into practice in a "professional" manner.

Provisions

CUES is an agreement, but it is not legally binding. Erik French of the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...

has said that the voluntary nature of CUES and its limitation to purely military naval forces limit its usefulness in the Asia Pacific region. The agreement discourages aviators from making "unfriendly physical gestures" towards one another.

References

External links

* http://www.pacom.mil/Media/News/tabid/5693/Article/564121/navy-leaders-agree-to-code-for-unplanned-encounters-at-sea-at-14th-western-paci.aspx * https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-23/pacific-navies-approve-conduct-code-for-unplanned-sea-encounters Treaties entered into force in 2014

History

Provisions

See also

References

Further reading

External links