U.S. Vice President Joe Biden warned the Chinese president that Japan could acquire a nuclear bomb “virtually overnight” if Washington and Beijing are not able to curb North Korea’s weapons programs.

In an interview with PBS last week, Biden said he told Xi Jinping that Japan “could go nuclear tomorrow” if Pyongyang’s nuclear threat wasn’t addressed, and argued that Beijing had the “single greatest ability to influence North Korea.”

“I said, ‘What would you do? What would you do?’” Biden told interviewer Charlie Rose, describing his response to the Chinese leader’s objections to U.S. plans to ramp up its