NEVER underestimate the Communists, esp. the Red Chinese. They are much smarter than the Russians were, and have several thousand years of military history on their side.
Besides, the have read Sun tsu many times over, as well as Clausewitz, Bismarck, Patton, and Sir Robert Thompson, among others.
An aircraft carrier is an instrument to project a physical military presence, both visual and war-ready. With standoff cruise missiles and the “swarm technique” for outrider escorts, an aircraft carrier is a floating Navy, Army, and Air Force with a lot of teeth, and teeth can take a big bite out of you.
Intimidation first. Actual strikes later. Who is going to say “no” to a 1.6 billion people country who can field armies larger than many countries?
They have a robust military space program (anti-satellite); nuclear long-range ICBMs and shorter range missiles; a massive war-fighting industrial complex; more men than they need to conquer all of Asia and a part of Russia; a large, modern, and growing Air Force; a greatly expanding Navy including their submarine force; access to ports all over the world; spies in every major industrial country; massive foreign investment programs which give them entry into every country they are dealing with (and thus can influence; many covert supporters in nearly every country around the world worth influencing; and nobody willing to stand up to them.
As Alfred E. Neuman used to say, “What me worry?”
“They have a robust military space program (anti-satellite); nuclear long-range ICBMs and shorter range missiles; a massive war-fighting industrial complex;”
And don’t they have a significant Cyber War capability too? Haven’t they hacked top government and US corporations?