Beijing has fired back at US president-elect Donald Trump’s decision to appoint one of China’s harshest critics as the head of his newly-established National Trade Council.

Trump hired Peter Navarro - who’s written books titled Death by China and Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World - yesterday.

Editorials in the country’s state-controlled media has cautioned that the appointment indicates that the US will take a “hard-line attitude toward China.”

China’s Global Times said that “Beijing must discard any illusions and make full preparations for any offensive move by the Trump government” - and warned that China will not be bullied.

The English language China Daily said that, "His appointment is another sign of the confrontational approach the incoming Trump administration seems intent on taking in relations with China"

It added that the "apocalyptic" rhetoric used by Mr Navarro is now a "real cause for concern."

He has blamed China entering the World Trade Organisation in 2001 for economic stagnation and job losses in the US and has called on US citizens to boycott Chinese goods.

Mr Navarro is described by The Financial Times as "one of the architects of the populist [Trump] economic message."

"I read one of Peter’s books on America’s trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and thoroughness of his research ... He has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class," Mr Trump said.