That is some seriously wishful thinking, right there. Where are you getting your information?
China has built islands in the ocean to claim the South China Sea as a sovereign zone. They’ve been expansionist, they threaten Taiwan routinely, and bully their neighbors all the time.
They have two fully operational carriers, both ski jump design, and just launched a third this year with catapults. It is undergoing sea trials right now. Their future carriers are already under construction, so, three, not just one, and a full up CATOBAR carrier like ours is at sea. The Russian carrier is the one that caught on fire, by the way.
Beijing aims to challenge US air superiority in the Pacific but the Fujian still trails rival’s nuclear-powered warships
www.ft.com
Their stated goal is to expand their military and make it world class. Their Army is five times the size of ours, you can make a dollar argument (they spend less than we do) but the more compelling argument is that they get more for their dollar. They have more than doubled the size of their Navy in the past five years. They buy and build more airplanes per year than we do, and they have built weapons systems that have one purpose - kill US Carriers.
China knows that the reason the US has such broad influence is the ability to project US AirPower anywhere on the globe from its Carriers. The British know it, too, which is why they built two. China wants to be the major player on the world stage, and credible power projection is a pillar of that ambition.
So, while it may not all be about war, the ability to wage war is their crystal clear goal, and it must be taken seriously by the US, and the time to prepare is now, not after the first strike. It takes decades to develop a new airplane or ship, years to build it, and years to train the crew. It is about capability.
No, LCS is not a good example, that is a terrible platform, but the F-35, despite all of its programmatic shortcomings, is exactly the airplane the USN needs in a high-end conflict. The Super Hornet, while a great performer in some environments, is too slow, hampered by range, and too visible on radar to survive the early phases of a high end conflic