Trump incapable of leading a superpower - Chinese media

State media in China have accused US president-elect Donald Trump of not being sufficiently capable to run a superpower, in a move which could ignite a further war of words with the New York businessman.

Trump pledged to rip up trade deals with the likes of China during his election campaign, believing them to be detrimental to US jobs. Among a variety of other jibes aimed in the direction of China was an allegation that climate change was a "hoax" perpetrated by the country.

In the state-controlled Global Times newspaper on Monday, an opinion article claimed that Trump "bears no sense of how to lead a superpower."

"The Chinese government should be fully prepared for a hard-line Trump," the piece continued. "We should show Trump what the one-China policy is and what bottom lines in Sino-U.S. ties he should not touch. Once he does, he is bound to suffer the same losses that he makes China suffer from," the editorial said.

The article was in response to the president-elect's series of tweets on Sunday following China's seizure of a US-owned underwater drone in international waters over the weekend.

Trump attacked the move from Chinese security forces, referring to it as an "unprecedented" attack.

"China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters – rips it out of water and takes it to China in unprecedented act," one of Trump's tweets read on Sunday.

"We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back. - let them keep it!"

Trump will enter the White House on 20 January next year with the country's relationship with China of the utmost importance with regards to markets and the trade relations between the two superpowers.