GENEVA, February 27. /TASS/. No country has the authority to play the role of the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the international scene, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said in his video message at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).

"No country has the authority to be the ultimate human rights arbiter," said Qin. "Human rights cannot be used as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries to curb their development."

He stressed that in the human rights sphere China would like all countries to adhere to the path of development that corresponds to the domestic conditions in each individual state.

Qin stressed that the historical and cultural traditions, as well as the specific national conditions and needs of the people varied greatly from country to country.

"There is no universal model for the protection of human rights in the world. The right of each country to independently choose the path of human rights development must be respected," he pointed out.

"Copying the models of other countries [in the field of human rights] will only create a discrepancy with the surrounding conditions. Such dictating of one’s opinion to others will cause even more harm [to those who replicate such models]," Qin said.