BEIJING - China’s leaders have shown sufficient anger over North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests this week, and now, U.S. officials hope Beijing’s sharp rhetoric will translate into support in the U.N. Security Council for new sanctions on North Korea.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has admonished North Korea, saying it is “resolutely opposed” to the tests.

Official news reports have proclaimed that China is “shocked” by its neighbor’s defiance and that it “demands” an end to “any activity that might worsen the situation.”

Since North Korea conducted a second underground nuclear test on Monday and fired five short-range missiles into the waters off its east coast on Monday and Tuesday, academics at Chinese think tanks and other research centers affiliated with the Chinese government have begun to discuss publicly what had previously been unthinkable: cutting off food or fuel aid to North Korea and supporting other harsh sanctions at the United Nations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has “gone too far,” said Zhang Liangui, a professor at the Institute of Strategy at the Central Party School in Beijing.

“The nuclear test conducted by North Korea offended the core interests of China,” Zhang said in an interview.

The United States has long sought help from China, North Korea’s largest trading partner, in pressuring North Korea’s reclusive leaders to give up their nuclear ambitions.

U.S. officials say they sense a different tone in China’s response this time. But China has not yet made clear what position it will take in the U.N. Security Council, where negotiations are underway on a possible resolution against North Korea.

“The Chinese are deeply exasperated, but we have to see what they are prepared to do,” an Obama administration official said. (ANI)