Based on what I'm reading from the author, it seems like he's saying there is a lack of drafting and design experience and that is why the Navy has to resort with the 001A (a deviation from a Soviet design) instead of a brand new indigenous design.
However, we do not know what the actual state of Chinese shipbuilding drafting and design is, and there are also a multitude of other very plausible reasons that may also have featured into why the Chinese Navy wanted to build 001A first, instead of a fully indigenous design. This has already been discussed to great length in past pages, and includes decisions such as wanting a second carrier faster, immaturity of certain key technologies that would be required on a CATOBAR carrier, the low risk nature of the Chinese Navy in general, etc.
001A is also currently viewed by the community as the "lower risk" carrier compared to 002, which is expected to be a much more if not fully indigenous design with CATOBAR configuration, and whose design process would have occurred in the past few years as well.
Limitations in design that may have been present for 001A would have been a factor back when it was designed (past tense), five or more years ago.
In short, what he's saying is not wrong, but I think there are also various other factors that need to be considered in regards to why the Chinese Navy would've been willing to settle for a variant of an older carrier configuration. The draft and design experience may thus have been one reason why the Chinese Navy would've been willing to settle for a variant, but we can't say in any sort of confidence that it was the prime reason.
So to rephrase your ending statement, I think it would be more accurate to say this:
"The author of the article is positing that one possible limiter to China's first indigenous carrier now under construction was depth of design and drafting expertise."
