Abstract

　　In October 2015， the South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal in Hague announced it had the jurisdiction to consider the Philippines' case concerning the South China Sea disputes. In the same month， the U. S. destroyer USS Lassen navigated for the first time within 12 miles of the Subi Reef which is claimed by China and where China has been conducting land reclamation. These two developments highlighted the thorny issue of growing South China Sea disputes among China， Taiwan， Vietnam， the Philippines， Malaysia， Indonesia， and Brunei on the one hand， and the rising maritime competition between China and U. S. on the other hand. These developments also posed increasing challenges to China's maritime claim in South China Sea and maritime aspiration. How China copes with these challenges is an issue of strategic significance and with great implications to China's maritime aspiration and grand strategy in the long run.

Key words

　　South China Sea; Maritime Dispute; China-US Relations

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