The Naval Institute News Service has provided a copy of “the April, 2014 version of the multi-national Conduct for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) signed by 21 Pacific nations at the 14th Western Pacific Naval Symposium in Qingdao, China. CUES is a series of non-binding rules-of-the-road to prevent an escalation of tensions between different militaries at sea.”

This is similar to the old INSEA agreement between the Soviets and the US, designed to minimize the possibility of a unintentional incident escalating into a conflict. Particularly any ships operating in the South China Sea, East China Sea, western Pacific, or even the Indian Ocean ought to spend some extra time with this document. Good to see this document emerge, it was needed. Unfortunately it will not prevent intentional provocation, but it may make a determination of accidental or intentional easier.