Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun says China’s top nuclear envoy Wu Dawei strongly criticized North Korea for continuing provocations and hinted Beijing will take action.

The Japanese daily reports U.S. and Chinese diplomatic sources said Wu hinted during a meeting last month with his U.S. counterpart, Glyn Davies, that Beijing will sternly deal with the North’s continued provocations, such as missile launches and nuclear tests.

The Japanese paper said Wu did not elaborate on how to sanction the North although the U.S. asked China to impose financial sanctions against Pyongyang.