whether this navy is effective in a theater of war _today_ is a good question. They tend to be sub-optimal in a time dominated by PMC's and asymmetric warfare. Having a highly complex, maintenance-intensive fleet is nice for show and maybe to scare the odd South East Asian country into submission during disputes in the South China Sea. But for it to be effective it needs to be exercised in real life (kinetic) conditions. I think the PRC would get more bang for their buck by sending their troops to Africa (as they already do[1]) for them to get battle experience.

[1] https://defaakto.com/2020/07/18/chinas-other-presence-in-afr...

edit: I personally don't support any of their current & future war mongering and naval ambitions. The right foreign policy for the US would be maximum pressure and if they don't play by Western rules we should go to war with them immediately (we should have done so the moment they said Taiwan belongs to the PLC or when the news of the Uyghurs broke). Not doing so means we're only postponing this for a later point (when they are even stronger and when the damage will be even bigger on both sides).