Since 2016, a steady erosion of the US-led rules-based order has led to a mounting agreement between four states regarding the Indo-Pacific. The increasing and shared need to protect the international order brought four countries— the United States, Australia, Japan, and India—together under the framework of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). While the Quad dates to the early and mid-2000s, the grouping struggled until Japan introduced its Free and Open IndoPacific (FOIP) strategy in 2016, which was then followed by the 2016 Australian Defense White Paper. Gradually, India issued similar statements, and by December 2017, the US National Security Strategy reflected the FOIP vision