Standardization comes later, I simply considered three things:If the 003 is accepted after sea trials we may well see China standardize on it. as for numbers China only has to guard the pacific, the USA has to patrol the pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean. if we look at something like fleet tracker
1, International situation in the end calls for faster capital ship construction.
2, China's fleet composition leans very heavily towards surface combatants and conventional subs. Takes to rectify this are taken, but they're slow - surface units continue to outproduce SSNs and CVs.
3, Waiting for 003 results will take many years. For capital ships, it's prudent to accept that there is no such thing as purely experimental units. Yes, it's a risk, but capital ship is not just investment of money and technology, it's an investment of time. Unlike the money, lost time won't come back when you'll need it.
As for the latter... Fleet carrier isn't CSG ship. It isn't meant to 'guard the pacific', patrols are the aim of those nations who don't aim at anything else(read - vanity boats). Carrier is meant to provide the necessary degree of airpower for the nation, where it is needed and against whoever is needed.
This is a peacetime deployment, and CSGs are easily rearrangeable. If you want to have any chance against a nation with a dozen nuclear carriers, and which can potentially call for the assistance of up to 7...9 more fleet carriers - you build up accordingly.We can see that in the Pacific America is happy to have only three carrier groups in the Pacific facing china, if china builds but three more carriers it would outnumber the Americans.
In the end, decks matter. Value of certain numbers of carriers for PLAN may be up to debate, but the value of tactical airpower at sea per se is undisputable. And regardless of the conclusions of those debates, I am sure that entering any likely conflict(or even endangered period) with just 3 decks won't be the preferred scenario.
This is why I personally think that pace of construction is too leisurely. Not of the ships themselves(they're built decently fast), but the fact that only 1 hull is being built at any given moment.