ABSTRACT
The game is an update of Glorious Mission Online, a gaming platform originally part-sponsored by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) as a virtual simulator to train soldiers, and fashioned after the popular Call of Duty game series developed in the United States. In any case, the game was good while it lasted: in the first week after its launching, Defend the Diaoyu Islands stormed to the top ten free iPad games available off the China iTunes app store. The principal mechanism for the adjudication of island disputes similar to the Diaoyu/Senkaku affair would now be the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The innovative feature of the solution protocols is driven not just by the willingness of the parties to seek a resolution – an outcome not to be assumed in the Diaoyu/Senkaku case, however, as shall be argued – but also by the nature of the island involved qua island. Passions over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands have been clouding pragmatism.
