President Biden will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, the White House announced, as the US attempts to manage China's connections to Russia amid Ukraine's escalating invasion.

The conversation is part of the US and China's "ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication between," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

"The two leaders will discuss managing the competition between our two countries as well as Russia's war against Ukraine and other issues of mutual concern," she said.

In November, Mr. Biden and Xi last spoke during a nearly three-hour virtual summit. Their chat on Friday follows a meeting in Rome on Monday between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi, which a senior administration source described as an "intense, seven-hour session."

The person stated that the Biden administration is "deep concerns about China's alignment with Russia" as Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine, and Sullivan was "direct" in his assessment of the ramifications of "certain actions."

According to a White House readout of the meeting, Sullivan "raised a range of issues in U.S.-China relations, with substantial discussion of Russia's war against Ukraine" and emphasized the "importance of maintaining open lines of communication" between the US and China.

While many countries have distanced themselves from Russia in the aftermath of its three-week invasion of Ukraine, and the US and the West have united in imposing steep costs on Moscow for its war, Russia has turned to China for support and military aid and equipment; two US officials told CBS News earlier this week.

Both Chinese and Russian officials denied that Moscow wanted Beijing's aid.