Asia-Pacific navies sign communication pact

Naval officials from the US and nearly two dozen Asia-Pacific nations adopted an agreement on Tuesday aimed at heading off accidents and miscommunication at sea to reduce the possibility of conflict amid rising frictions between an increasingly assertive China and its neighbours. The Code For Unplanned Encounters at Sea was approved unanimously at the Western Pacific Naval Symposium held in the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao. The agreement outlines how warships should communicate and maneuver when they come into contact in heavily trafficked sea lanes surrounding China, Japan and Southeast Asia. The agreement “offers a means by which navies may develop mutually rewarding international cooperation and transparency and provide leadership and broad-based involvement in establishing international standards in relation to the use of the sea,” according to a text of the agreement provided by a US Navy officer, a news agency said.