[Jim Noble]

I’m an amateur, not a professional - but I study this stuff a lot.

I don’t believe the carriers would survive an hour in a war over a vital Chinese interest such as Taiwan.

[BroJoeK]

Jim Noble: "I don’t believe the carriers would survive an hour in a war over a vital Chinese interest such as Taiwan."

All depends, Sun Tzu said it all:

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

No warship is invulnerable, but every warship can be effective under the right circumstances.
And there's this:

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

That is what Ronald Reagan achieved over the old Soviet Union, and what, no doubt, the Chi-coms hope to achieve over us.
We'll see, but their chances look pretty good these days.