To actually emulates that strategy, China has to actually need friends around that region, that will allow her to actually reach those bases. No point having naval bases in Pakistan or Bahrain or any African countries if China cannot actually access them a freely as the US access theirs. The biggest problem China’s navy has is the fact that in a war, a naval blockade that blocks China’s from accessing any significant body of water will be easy to enforce.

BTW, chances of China actually having naval bases in East Asia or South-east Asia is pretty much zero. Countries like Laos or Malaysia very much like to take China’s money as a price of looking the other way when China does her shenanigans, but never went more than that.