3205 2 THE OBJECTIVE: Quad has committed its members to promoting a free and open rules-based order rooted in international law. Reuters Manoj Joshi Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation The Quad joint statement has committed its members to promoting ‘a free, open rules-based order (RBO), rooted in international law’. This sounds authoritative and impressive. The problem is that no one is clear as to what the RBO means. Even though people are agreed that we all should follow a rules-based system in international affairs, there is no agreement on which rules, whose rules, and, indeed, the term itself. India is in a bind. It is following America’s lead in implementing the RBO in the Indo-Pacific, but is complaining about western organisations questioning its adherence to a rules-based democracy.