China to lead the TPP?

On Friday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that China will be joining the meeting of the TPP countries next week. Since then, the Chinese internet has been filled with speculations that China will replace the US as the leader of the TPP. I do not think this is likely for two reasons: 1, China has reservations on many of the rules in the TPP; 2, several of the existing TPP members might not be very keen to bring China in. The more likely scenario, I think, is that China try to expand through the RCEP. Nonethless, it would be interesting to watch how things develop next week.