The implementation of the concept of "responsibility to protect" should not contravene the principle of state sovereignty and the principle of noninterference of internal affairs, a senior Chinese diplomat said Friday.

Liu Zhenmin, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks as he addressed a plenary session of the UN General Assembly.

The 2005 world summit outcome document gave a very prudent description to the concept of "responsibility to protect," he said.

The document strictly limited the scope of its application to four serious international crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, Liu noted. "However, experience in the past few years shows that there is still controversy over the meaning and implementation of the concept."

Liu stressed that the government of a given state has the primary responsibility to protect its own citizens.

The international community can provide assistance but the protection of its citizens ultimately depends on the government of the state," he said. "This is in keeping with the principle of state sovereignty."

"Although the world has undergone profound and complex changes, the basic status of the purposes and principles of the UN Charter remains unchanged," he stressed.

"There must not be any wavering of the principles of respecting state sovereignty and non-interference of internal affairs," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2009)