In counter-air there is no replacement for stealth.
(1)It depends on who's stealthy(in formation) and how combat is organized. Both now and especially in the future, given all the loyal wingman vibe(relative position of manned asset to the formation and to the enemy matters a lot. One thing when you're behind the main grid, another is when you're within the formation, third thing when you operate alone or ahead of the grid).
J-15B may be perfectly fine behind LWs - and such a system may very well be superior to a 5th gen a/c based one.
Also, worth remembering, that both subgenerations of 5th gen fighters aren't
that stealthy in the first place. Especially at sea.
(2)A2A superiority(OFCA) isn't the primary concern for a deck-based a/c in the first place. Not even secondary. Tertiary - yes, but this isn't exactly far ahead.
The primary venue to air superiority in naval combat - for both the attacker and defender, - is the carrier, its attack and defense. Can't defend your carrier - no air operations, no matter how good you are. Feel free to outfly crabs on the bottom.
As of now i would reserve my estimation on the degree of J-35 importance for PLANAF - we don't know. But for USN F-35Cs' value isn't its incredible a2a metrics.
