The operationalisation of hotlines to respond to maritime emergencies, the launch of a Direct Communications Infrastructure among ASEAN establishments, and an agreement to expand the Code for Unplanned Encounters to all ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus countries this November.

In view of the changing circumstances in the South China Sea dispute, "ASEAN has taken a practical approach, to work on the Code of Conduct to constrain, if not bind, behaviour".