Executing a Java application in a separate process

Can a Java application be loaded in a separate process using its name, as opposed to its location, in a platform independent manner?

I know you can execute a program via ...

Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec( COMMAND );

... the main issue of this method is that such calls are then platform specific.

Ideally, I'd wrap a method into something as simple as...

EXECUTE.application( CLASS_TO_BE_EXECUTED );

... and pass in the fully qualified name of an application class as CLASS_TO_BE_EXECUTED.