[dragonwriter]

> Worth noting that while China has a larger navy in terms of number of ships, the US Navy is larger in terms of tonnage, and most critically has more aircraft carrier task forces.

China needs carriers if it is going to fight the US over, say, Puerto Rico.

It doesn’t need them to fight the US over Taiwan. Mainland China (well, the parts close to Taiwan, at any rate) is one big, unsinkable, aircraft carrier for that war.

OTOH, they do need amphibious assault ships, but they have lots of them (slightly fewer than the US does.)