WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuter) - The United States is prepared to again co-sponsor a resolution criticising China's human rights policy if there is no improvement before the U.N. Human Rights Commission meets in Geneva, Secretary of State-designate Madeleine Albright said on Wednesday.

``The situation (now) is not much better than at the time that we did this last year but we'll have to assess exactly where it is and if it's not better, we are prepared in fact to co-sponsor that resolution and the Chinese know that,'' she told her Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.

Albright said ``the issue is in the remaining weeks how they (the Chinese) approach that (human rights) situation'' and whether any changes are made.

The administration over the past year made a major effort to build better ties with China, which had been in a dangerous tailspin. To that end, when Secretary of State Warren Christopher visited Beijing in November, he publicly made little mention of human rights, although officials said he raised the subject in talks with senior Chinese leaders.

Albright vowed that if confirmed by the Senate, ``I can assure you the United States will not hesitate to address frankly the violation of internationally-recognised human rights, whether ... in Cuba or Afghanistan, Burma, Belgrade or Beijing.''

But she stressed that despite a debate in the United States over balancing various elements of U.S. policy toward Beijing, managing a strong bilateral relationship with China is a priority and the United States will pursue a ``strategy aimed at Chinese integration, not isolation.''

She signalled that an early trip to Asia was on her agenda. But she cited Japan and South Korea as two stops, not Beijing.

She said she spent a large part of her life being concerned about human rights in a variety of countries ``and consider it almost a signature element of our policy.''

But she endorsed President Clinton's decision to delink China's human rights record and trade benefits, saying ``we have to choose our approach to how we deal with the Chinese.''

Albright said initially she backed Clinton's policy since reversed of tying Most Favoured Nation trade benefits because she thought trade was an apporpriate leverage to use in securing human rights improvements.

But ``history has shown it has not done that. It has not helped in terms of our engagement with China and has not improved the level of human rights for many people in China,'' she said.

Albright said that by delinking trade and rights ``it may well be able to pursue both avenues equally strongly.''

``It's not linkage that creates our strength in terms of human rights but the fact that we raise the issue with the Chinese in a variety of settings and that we keep talking and dealing with them on the subject,'' including release of political prisoners and treatment of Tibet, she said.

Albright stressed the importance of engaging with China.

``As we have greater trade relations and there is the creation of an economic middle class in China, that penetration and the example that we've seen in other countries ... will help the human rights situation evolve,'' she said. But she insisted she was not underestimating the importance of human rights, saying: ``I think we have to keep pressing the human rights agenda in China and we have to understand this is one of the areas that we will not have complete agreement with them and we are going to pursue it.''