Senkaku Emergency

The Senkaku Emergency was part of World War III, taking place in the Senkaku Islands of the East China Sea. The People's Liberation Army Navy Surface Force seized the Japanese islands early morning, and the the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and the Genji Imperial Navy Surface Fleets have reclaimed the islands within the span of a day.

Background
The Senkaku Islands have been controlled by Japan since 1895, aside from the American occupation of the Ryukyu Islands between 1945 to 1972. The People's Republic of China questioned sovereignty over the islands after the late 1970s when evidence of off-shore oil reserves surfaced.

Sovereignty dispute would continue into the 21st century, and the largest incident taking place when a Chinese fishing trawler entered surrounding waters and collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels on 2010. In 2012, Japan purchased the disputed islands from their private owners, and the decision sparked the worst anti-Japanese protests seen in China.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) began sending naval vessels and aircraft to the islands frequently. By 2013, half of foreign aircraft intercepted by the Japan Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) were of Chinese origin.

Timeline
On 23rd September, 20 fishing vessels carrying PLA soldiers attacked the Japanese Coast Guard and took control of the Senkaku Islands early morning.

The JMSDF Escort Flotilla 1 and Submarine Squadron 1 were dispatched to retake the island by the following hour. An RF-4E Phantom II was also sent for reconnaissance from Naha Airbase in Okinawa. The aircraft arrived at the island's airspace, and was intercepted by a PLAAF Shenyang J-15 demanding it to withdraw from Chinese airspace before shooting the aircraft down with it's PL-12 missiles. The destruction of the RF-4E Phantom II and the deaths of the two airmen were the first confirmed casualties.

A squadron of J-15 soon flew to attack JS Izumo. Four out of five in the squadron fired two YJ-91 missiles each. All the missiles were intercepted by DDG-173 Kongo's Aegis system. The fifth J-15 used the missiles as diversion to fire it's own pair of missiles, intercepted by CIWS of the Izumo. One of the missiles however, damaged the Izumo's flight deck. Kongo fired a SM-2MR to the lone J-15, making China's first casualty.