The rising tension in the South China Sea since 2009 almost overturns the sound political and economic relations established between China and the ASEAN states since 1997. Better handling of the issue to ease the tension of territorial disputes in the South China Sea is thus the key to goodneighbourliness among China and ASEAN's claiming states. The ASEANChina Declaration of the Conduct of Parties (DOC) signed by China and the ASEAN countries in 2002 has not reached its purpose of promoting a peaceful, friendly and harmonious environment in the South China Sea. Instead, the past decade has witnessed numerous clashes between the sovereignty-claimants. Hence, the South China Sea has actually become a potential "battlefield" if consultations or negotiations among the parties concerned have not been effectively or well handled. This paper describes the current overlapping sovereignty claims of related parties around the South China Sea, introduces the mainstream opinions in mainland China toward this critical sovereignty issue, and discusses the evolving academic viewpoints of the Chinese scholars on the South China Sea's territorial disputes, and attempts to seek an alternative approach to handle these complicated sovereignty disputes and raises some proposals for this purpose. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT