May I ask why China is so slow...
Like we took 12 years to retrofit Liaoning, and another 12 years after that to confirm design of a 5th gen navalized fighter (not even enter production)? It's like an snails pace...
I'm not sure this is a good way to characterize the situation.
First of all, it took 10 not 12 years to retrofit Liaoning (2002 - 2012), which was actually pretty quick considering China never had any experiences either operating or building a carrier before. Not even a light carrier like what India or Thailand had.
Second, not sure what you mean by "another 12 years after that to confirm design of a 5th gen navalized fighter." FC-31 took first flight in 2012, which wasn't even a PLAAF/PLAN project - it was very premature for China to start to design a 5th gen navalized fighter when it was only over a year after J-20 took first flight and PLAN just took over Liaoning their first carrier literally a few weeks ago. China wouldn't have had the experience to know what exactly they would want for such a thing. Then there was the small matter of what engine to use ...
All told, China's carrier program including the carrier-based aircraft has been progressing incredibly fast and has simply gone far beyond most people's expectations, - you simply can not develop carrier-based aircraft independent of the carrier program itself.
In less than 20 years, China is close to launch its 85,000+ tonnes EMALS CATOBAR carrier, with J-15T, J-31, KJ-600 all already taking first flights or close to do so.
What more do you expect?