US Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice said there's still much for the US to do to ensure that China plays by international trade rules as its economy and might in global trade continue to grow.

'We do face a rising China. There's no doubt about that,' Rice said during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The way for the US to approach China's growing influence and economic strength is to 'embed China in the World Trade Organization and make certain that it lives up to the rules of a rule-based economic system. And we have a lot of work to do, because China is not always completely attentive to some of its obligations under the World Trade Organization,' Rice said.

The US can also 'assert our still considerable global reach through organizations like APEC' - the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, she added. 'I think that most of the countries of Asia look to us to continue to be a major influence and an active player in Asia, because they don't want to see China 'supplant' the United States.'

Rice also pointed out that China's economy, 'for all of its vigor and all of its robustness, is still a developing economy whose size is not going to approach the size of the American economy for quite a long time...While it is a huge market and is doing very well in our own markets, I think that it is important to recognize that it is at a different stage of its economic development than the United States.'

Rice declined to answer repeated questions about the dollar and the loss of some of its luster as the world's premier reserve currency, saying such questions were best addressed by the US Treasury.

"My role will be to try and enhance our economic growth and our economic strength through our openness in trade - but also by making certain that those with whom we trade are dealing with us on a level playing field," Rice said. (Dow Jones)