The disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea have become a complicated and potential source of international conflict, which involves disputes over sovereignty in the South China Sea, maritime borders, and resources. The claimants include regional countries such as, Taiwan, Mainland China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei as well as the United States and Japan, which are outside of the region. The level of attention to the South China Sea issues has increased due to its important strategic location and critical sea-lanes. Moreover, discovery of rich yields of hydrocarbon has drawn the interest of many regional countries, and thus, lead to periodic conflicts. The regulations of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea made claimants scramble to reinforce their maritime border claims of and caused disputes due to overlapping territories. Mainland China, a newly developing regional power, believes that the sovereignty of the South China Sea belongs to it based on historical or legal status. China displays great ambition and intention toward claiming sovereignty in the South China Sea because of its strategic needs, demands for resources needed for economic growth and development, and persistence in reinforcing its sovereignty. It uses its authoritarian power to intervene disputes, which results in heightened tensions. This research paper discusses the strategies and approaches adopted by Mainland China to handle disputes involving the South China Sea. The two themes discussed in this study include the influential factors of ASEAN, the United States and Japan toward the disputes of the South China Sea and the resolution that Mainland China uses to deal with such disputes.

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