More than 70 students gathered in Founders Hall in Arlington on Saturday to battle it out in a simulation concerning the contested Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
It went nuclear. Almost.
The day-long event was hosted by the Center for Security Policy Studies at the Schar School of Policy and Government.
The organizer of the event, CSPS student fellow Rebecca Ames, said, “This is an exercise where students are pushed into the emotional stress of real-world situations.” In her opening remarks, Ames encouraged students to get into the action, get frustrated, and have fun.
Each student was assigned China, Japan, or the United States as their country of allegiance. Within each country, students assumed the role of either diplomat, executive, or military personnel.
The organizers of the event provided each team with a scenario to start off the event, and added new details throughout the simulation to spice up each of the four rounds.
In the first scenario, Japan flew two fighter jets into Chinese airspace, and China quickly shot the jets down. One of the planes was carrying an American soldier, which the Chinese took captive. From there, it was up to the students to decide how to proceed.
The event highlighted various approaches to conflict. Some students wanted to immediately go to war, while others advocated for peace.
By round two, China had taken control of the islands and created a travel ban on all United States and Japanese civilians. This development led students who were previously campaigning for peace turn to war.
John Gordon IV, an adjunct professor at the Schar School and is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, saw students becoming more frustrated with their peers as the game progressed.
“People are getting an opportunity to see that different countries and people have different objectives,” he said. “It’s difficult to craft a really good military and diplomatic option even within one country.”
At the end of round four, the three nations held a summit resulting in China keeping the islands and offering a peace treaty to end the fictitious war.
Ryan Crice, a Masters in International Security student, said, “This event forced me to think outside of the box and helped me better understand what it takes to find common objectives.”