The region around Taiwan has the benefit of mutiple, unsinkable, carriers, namely Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Not sure how far Italy deployed its carriers, that being said the above mentioned countries offers quite a few sophisticated naval bases as well. At the very least Harriers are still good enough for escort duty, if shit hits the fan someone needs to keep shipping lines open. A carrier is great for that, Harriers are great for that.

True so that US carriers, and vessels like the De Gaulle and the British carrier (Elizabeth-class if memory serves well) are different beast than the Italian ones. And the US has quite a few of those.