China and ASEAN are committed to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the 2011 Implementation Guidelines that they will intensify efforts to seek ways to build trust and will refrain from activities that would escalate disputes. As crossStrait relations become warmer, Taipei has launched limited cooperation projects with Beijing in the South China Sea, but Taiwan is still excluded from the multilateral negotiation of confidence-building measures in the South China Sea. The U.S. growing attention on the South China Sea has created a dilemma for Taiwan regarding cooperation with China both in joint oil exploration and in policy coordination vis-à-vis other ASEAN claimants. Taiwan knows the sensitiveness of tilting toward China or the U.S. in a Sino-American conflict in the South China Sea, so it chooses to keep a low-profile stand to avoid misperceptions by either Beijing or Washington.