When they get a suitable enough carrier force they can lean on the neighboring Asian nations a little harder. I expect that new large shipbuliding and drydocking facilities are underway in China and they're gaining practical deep ocean, large ship experience with the merchant fleet and producing a generation of trained sailors whilst doing so. Look what the Japanese accomplished between the time of the slap in the face by the Royal Navy in the 1860s and WWII---that's just in one man's lifespan.
Asians are potentially vastly more dangerous as opponents than our standard muslim boogeymen.