US President Donald Trump is set to change the Pentagon's name just days after he warned that China was attempting to "conspire against the United States of America" following a mass military parade in Beijing.

A White House official confirmed that Mr Trump is set to sign an executive order on Friday to revert the Department of Defence to the "Department of War", the same title used during the Second World War.

The move will also change the title of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to the title of "Secretary of War" in public communications and official correspondence.

The order will require Mr Hegseth to put forward executive and legislative actions to make the change of name permanent, with the Trump official adding the alteration is "not just about words - it's about the warrior ethos".

A White House official confirmed that Mr Trump is set to sign an executive order on Friday

Mr Trump has teased the name change in recent weeks, telling reporters: "We're just going to do it. I'm sure Congress will go along if we need that.

"Defence is too defensive. We want to be defensive, but we want to be offensive, too if we have to be.

"Everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defence."

In Britain, the War Office was turned into the Ministry of Defence in 1964 to help consolidate the UK's branches of the Armed Forces.

The measure will also require the Pentagon to make changes to its signage and public websites

The measure will also require the Pentagon to make changes to its signage and public websites alongside renaming the building's briefing room to the "Pentagon War Annex", a White House official disclosed to Fox News.

Mr Hegseth, to whom the President has previously referred as the Secretary of War, backed the change - and added the shift will reflect a cultural shift within his department.

He said: "We won WWI, and we won WWII, not with the Department of Defence, but with a War Department, with the Department of War.

"As the President has said, we're not just defence, we're offence.

Mr Hegseth, who the President has previously referred to as the Secretary of War, backed the change

"We re-established at the Department the warrior ethos. We want warriors, folks that understand how to exact lethality on the enemy.

"We don't want endless contingencies and just playing defence. We think words and names and titles matter.

"So we're working with the White House and the President on it. Stand by."

The name change comes after Chinese leader Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un held talks on Thursday.

The meeting between the two anti-Western leaders sparked fears that an “autocratic alliance” was brewing between the countries - along with Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Ahead of the meeting, Chinese state media said the pair would “exchange in-depth views on China-North Korea relations and issues of common concern”.

Back in the West, US and Taiwanese defence officials have held secrets talks in Alaska, according to the Financial Times.

According to insiders with knowledge of the meeting, the Pentagon’s top Indo-Pacific official Jed Royal held talks with Taiwan’s deputy national security adviser Hsu Szu-Chien.