WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. President Joe Biden’s attempt to create a divide between Chinese President Xi Jinping & Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine will be a major topic of conversation this week as Biden travels from Washington to meet with European leaders.

A NATO Summit, meeting of Group of Seven nations, will see the United States, its allies, discuss humanitarian assistance and weapons for Ukraine.

According to U.S. officials, Biden will coordinate a response with Beijing if Beijing provides support to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.

“During his visit to Brussels, President Biden will coordinate with our EU partners on all aspects of our response to President Putin’s unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine, and this includes the concerns we share with the EU if China provides material support to Russia,” said a senior Biden administration official.

A second top U.S. official stated that the close cooperation on sanctions, trade controls, and export control imposed against Russia has brought Europe closer to the United States. These elected leaders expressed growing concern about China’s involvement in this conflict.

“The Europeans are facing the same problems that we face… The second official stated that he believed there was a “tipping point” in the situation.

The United States and European countries have worked behind closed doors for several weeks in an effort to persuade Chinese officials to stop supporting Putin’s incursion into Ukraine. Moscow refers to it as a “special operations” and push Putin to end the war. This war has resulted in the deaths of hundreds and destroyed many towns, as well as millions being displaced.

Qin Gang (Chinese ambassador to the United States), stated that China did not send arms to Russia and was not providing financial aid to the country. But he, along with other Chinese officials, has publicly rejected an attempt to reverse course and claimed that China is on right track.

Many analysts and diplomats are seeing signs of Beijing’s shift. Beijing’s recent statements have called for an end to hostilities and highlighted the cost that war has on the global economy. A European official pointed out, however, that Beijing is not abandoning Russia’s position.

Xi has not bowed to U.S. requests in the past year and has used closer ties with Russia to counter the West’s pressures on China.

Xi rejected any investigation into the source of the coronavirus that was found in Wuhan (China) in 2019. He rejected Chinese criticisms about Uyghurs being treated in Xinjiang by China and refused to put pressure on North Korea. He continued his quest for dominance in the South China Sea by provoking tensions between Taiwanese.

However, China’s close economic ties and purchase of about one-third of its exported goods by the Group of Seven rich democracies may be leveraged to try to isolate Xi from Putin.