Washington, Jan. 18 (Reuters): Secretary of state-designate Condoleezza Rice today vowed to press diplomacy in President George W. Bush?s second term to repair ties strained by the US invasion of Iraq.

If confirmed as secretary of state, Rice will face huge challenges: the insurgency now raging in Iraq, the bitter rift with US allies in Europe, the threat of another attack like September 11, 2001, and US unpopularity around the world.

Rice said she would seek to rebuild US alliances and to spread freedom around the world ? stances met with scepticism by critics who regard the Bush administration?s foreign policy as marked by go-it-alone, America first tendencies.

?We must use American diplomacy to help create a balance of power in the world that favours freedom,? Rice said in her opening statement to the US Senate foreign relations committee.

?And the time for diplomacy is now.?

Senator Joe Biden, a Delaware Democrat, quickly shot back: ?Despite our great military might we are in my view more alone in the world than we?ve been in any time in recent memory. The time for diplomacy, in my view, is long overdue.?

Rice was Bush?s national security adviser during his tumultuous first term, which was marked by the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks, the resulting US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and arguably, the worst rift with Europe since World War II.

Implicitly addressing the criticism the White House pursued its own agenda in Iraq and elsewhere regardless of world sentiment, she said, ?Our interaction with the rest of the world must be a conversation, not a monologue.?

Bush has chosen the 50-year-old former Stanford University provost to replace Colin Powell, widely admired and often seen as the Cabinet?s lonesome dove stressing diplomacy to solve crises.

While Rice is expected to win easy confirmation, she faces an uphill battle convincing critics the Bush administration will forgo unilateral instincts and that she will be a strong player against heavyweights like Vice-President Dick Cheney and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.