儘管要求中國在南海問題上遵守國際法的規範與規則，但美國與其主 要亞太盟友（特別是日本及澳洲）始終未能獲得積極的回應。事實上，許 多專家學者多半從修昔底德陷阱和權力轉移理論的角度來詮釋美國與中 國的關係。過去歐巴馬總統是要以「再平衡策略」從外交、經濟和軍事三 個面向來限制中國在南海議題的選項；而當前川普總統是從外交和軍事的 面向為之。中國仍然堅持以雙邊和多邊外交的方式，與區域内相關的國家 交涉來解決爭端。過去的設計包含多邊經濟的工具來約束中國，如今少了 經濟面向，川普政府少了可以施壓中國的力量。以目前的態勢，中國將會 按照既定的方向與東協國家就南海行為準則達成協議。

Despite of the advocacy of following the norms and rules of international law about China’s behavior in the South China Sea, the U.S. and its major allies in Asia Pacific (Japan and Australis in particular) have received positive response from China. In fact, many scholars and practitioners analyze U.S.-China relations from the perspective of Thucydides’s Trap, Power Transition Theory and hold pessimistic view about it. In the past, Obama administration applied rebalance strategy to limit China’s policy options from three angles (i.e., diplomatic, economic and military); in contrast, Trump administration focuses on more on diplomatic and military aspects. Beijing’s approach to the South China Sea issue remains on bilateral and regional talks with concerned nations in this region. The design of the previous administration contained multilateral economic leverage to constrain China. Without economic tool, Trump administration has less power to put pressure on China. Under current situation, China keeps firmly about its direction and proceed to finalize the Code of Conduct on the South China Sea with ASEAN countries.