You should check out China's rankings of Comprehensive National Power. China is ranked like 6th or 7th on our own list.
Countries like Britain, France, Russia, they have been projecting power across the world for many decades now.
China on the other hand doesn't even have a blue water navy yet. We don't have much capability to bring military power to the other side of the world.
Not to mention that we are still a developing country. Whereas Britain/France/Russia have been building up their capabilities for the last century. And projecting military power all across the planet during that time, whereas China's military power projection is a very local affair. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Sino-Indian War, etc. all of these happened right on our own borders.
On the day that China can conduct a concerted military campaign halfway across the world, that may change.