Saying that both sides would share the "historical culpability and pay the corresponding price," China on Friday issued an unusually blunt warning to the U.S. and North Korea to ratchet down tensions before they lead to war.

"The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent, and there have been storm clouds gathering," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing, according to The New York Times, which attributed the comments to China's Xinhua state news agency.

Wang, who had been meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault before making the remarks, delivered the strongest Chinese statement yet on the current tensions, calling on both countries to exercise restraint.

"We urge all sides to no longer engage in mutual provocation and threats, whether through words or deeds, and don't push the situation to the point where it can't be turned around and gets out of hand," Wang said, according to The Times.

The comments come after saber rattling from both the U.S. and North Korea that has seen rhetoric escalate sharply into action. U.S. officials say the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be preparing for an underground test of a nuclear weapon that some analysts predict could be timed to a celebration this weekend of the anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung. The test would be the country's sixth and comes amid a quickening pace of efforts to develop its nuclear capacity in which Pyongyang has long been working to develop a ballistic missile capable of delivering a warhead to the U.S.

Meanwhile, NBC on Thursday reported that intelligence officials told the network that the U.S. was prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike with conventional weapons if it appeared a nuclear test was imminent. The Pentagon has disputed that report, which said two destroyers capable of shooting the types of Tomahawk missiles used in a strike against a Syrian air base last week were deployed to the region. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was also routed toward the Korean peninsula instead of heading for its planned destination in Australia.

As recently as Friday, North Korean officials threatened that U.S. provocation could lead to war.

"We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a U.S. pre-emptive strike," North Korean Vice Minister Han Song Ryol told the Associated Press in an interview published Friday. "Whatever comes from the U.S., we will cope with it. We are fully prepared to handle it."

Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Sunday for a 10-day Asia trip that is widely expected to focus on the threat North Korea poses to the region and to emphasize the U.S. commitment to its allies there.

North Korea was said to be among the most pressing topics of conversation when President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, last week. Trump has worked to pressure Xi into exerting more influence over North Korea but acknowledged during an interview this week that it may be a more difficult request than he initially anticipated. He ominously suggested before his meeting with Xi that, "if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will."

Such talk has unsettled China, a longtime patron of Pyongyang, which in the past has served as an intermediary in discussions between the U.S. and the North Korea over the Hermit Kingdom's nuclear program. Beijing fears that undermining Pyongyang could lead to the collapse of an already fragile state and unleash a flood of refugees on to the mainland. China also remains concerned that if the North Korean government falls, the country could potentially reunify with South Korea and a pro-Western government could emerge across its border. Nevertheless, the Chinese have had mixed success exerting influence over North Korea since Kim came to power in 2011.

In trying to dissuade the hostile rhetoric during his remarks friday, Wang suggested that the possibility of negotiations with North Korea on its weapons program still exists.