With the recent economic boom in Southeast Asia, the South China Sea has been growing steadily in importance, especially to its coastal States. Even so, the South China Sea remains one of the least protected of the world's enclosed and semi-enclosed seas. After researching the practices in other regional seas and those of the South China Sea, a potential solution has been devised of establishing a regime of cooperation in combating pollution in this critical sea area. When constructing such a legal regime, China should recognize its role and act more positively and actively during the process.