ABSTRACT
Distrust between the US and China has increased in recent years, despite a close connection between the two countries' economic welfares and an increase in trade between the two nations. The US is a key market for China's goods, and China is a leading foreign holder of US Treasury securities. Thus, a study by Kenneth Lieberthal and Wang Jisi held that China accused the US of attempting to 'sabotage the Communist Party's leadership' and that the US alleged that the PRC's 'mercantilist policies harm the chances of American economic recovery. MAR therefore seeks to inject substance into the vague phrases mouthed by both powers: China ought to have a 'new model of major-country relations' with the US, and the US seeks to build a 'cooperative partnership' with China. Mutually Assured Restraint (MAR) is a foreign policy based on mutual respect, a quest for confidence building, and a set of new institutionalized arrangements that would move both powers away from situations.
