This article argues that the South China Sea (SCS) conflicthas been a successful case of conflict prevention since the early1990s, and in fact, that a transformation has occurred, from afragile peace to a more stable peace. The article asks why therehas been, and continues to be, relative peace in the SCS,despite the fact that many factors—as well as predictions byneo-realists and most U.S. policy analysts—point in the directionof military conflict. The findings show that the relativepeace is the result of two interlinked categories of processes:elite interactions and regionalization. The former takes theform of Track 2 diplomacy and personal networks, while thelatter is the outcome of the combined forces of Sino-ASEANrapprochement and economic integration and interdependence.Here, China’s acceptance of multilateralism and theASEAN+3 process have been of foremost importance.