I fully agree with what you said, China has already replaced the former hegemon in many places (Iraq is an especially good example). They did this though through trade deals and agreements, and not through bombing the hell out of any country. On the contrary: they just brokered peace between the two biggest arch-enemies of the Muslim world (Saudi Arabia and Iran) without firing a shot. I don't have any say in this, but this is probably a much better approach than by planting military bases all around the world and bombing everyone we have a disagreement with.