The Queen Elizabeth-class can rely on American carriers for any blue water operations, so they can get away with several limitations like ski-jump and F-35B aircraft.
Another Kuznetsov tier carrier or something like the QE wouldn't really increase the capacities of the Chinese navy within or even outside of the first island chain. So an angled deck with a modern catapult system should be most important key features of a Chinese carrier.
I strongly disagree.
I assume your statement is reflective of the idea that fighters launched from ski jumps are unable to carry heavy loads, but that's a position which I've disputed quite a few times. But even assuming MTOW is reduced in a ski jump compared to a catapult launch, in the case of Liaoning, they'll still be launching a very large plane with a respectable range, endurance, and payload.
Against medium tier navies, J-15s from ski jumps should be able to conduct relatively long range anti shipping missions with at least a pair of YJ-83Ks and SRAAMs. If the opposing force does not have any meaningful air defence ships, then such a strike package could be very useful.
Against a CSG or SAG of a high tier navy like the USN, it would make sense for the fighters of a PLAN CSG to do the combat air patrol mission instead of strike missions given the formidable air defence capabilities of opposing aegis ships and the limitations of a carrier based naval strike sorties in general. Combat air patrol allows you to try and engage enemy fighters to whittle down their numbers or at least force them to ditch their strike payloads, all at a long range beyond which your naval task force's SAMs can reach. Within the first island chain and especially beyond, land based air power cannot provide anywhere near the persistent fighter coverage of a naval task force that a carrier can.
What a catapult provides is the ability to launch fighters of heavier loads consistently under a variety of situations, and more importantly, is the ability to launch fixed wing AEW, which a ski jump carrier cannot reliably do. Organic fixed wing AEW I think is an essential capability future PLAN taskforces need to acquire, so therefore catapults are also something which is essential as well -- but it is also incorrect to say that a ski jump carrier doesn't offer anything to the PLAN.
Consider, hypothetically, if a J-15 launched from a STOBAR carrier is only able to attain 75% of its MTOW compared to if it were launched from a CATOBAR carrier, that is still a plane able to do a variety of missions with a variety of loadouts. Hell, even if it were only
50%, it would still be a useful if not invaluable capability to a naval taskforce compared to a naval taskforce without a carrier.
