The rise of China’s economic and military p2ower is transforming global politics while U.S. strategic interests are re-balancing toward Asia. Meanwhile, tensions over maritime boundaries and island claims within the region are punctuated by police and military stand-offs in the East and South China Seas. This paper considers the discourse surrounding the dispute over sovereignty in the South China Sea. It also examines the roles international law, multilateralism, and traditional diplomacy play in the conflict, and how it serves as a test case for China’s future diplomacy and traditional norms of non-interference and a peaceful rise. Finally, the paper suggests pathways toward conflict resolution of the immediate disputes, including de-territorialized and de-nationalized ideas of possession when it applies to contested yet uninhabited maritime frontiers.