Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs)

Confidence-building measures are agreed practices among naval and coast-guard forces that reduce the risk of miscalculation and unintended escalation at sea. The maritime standard is the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), adopted at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium, which sets common communications, maneuvering signals, and safety procedures for warships meeting unexpectedly. Other CBMs include incidents-at-sea agreements (the 1972 US-Soviet INCSEA), hotlines, advance notice of exercises, and joint patrols. They lower the chance of a clash that would spike war-risk exposure but carry no enforcement weight.