West Coast, re China being worried about the RN CBG, there is probably a difference between "political annoyance" and "military fear". I suspect if you sailed a lone RN Minesweeper into the area there would be a protest! Over the last few decades, Beijing has quietly got on with weaving itself into many areas around the world such as Africa - completely ignored. Maybe they hoped to "get away with it" in a more open example of expansionism in the SCS.
I suspect they are more than a little annoyed that plan backfired and the spotlight has been turned on them rather than having much "military fear" - particularly of a small CBG as an entity. However, such a deployment demonstrates political resolve - and that's what China is annoyed about - it all adds to the US, Australia etc, in unison, shining a spotlight on China. I suspect they realize that, if the West took on China militarily, we'd be effectively looking at WW3.
"Cold War 2" anyone?