Peace and prosperity should be maintained by regional, instead of individual countries, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing on Wednesday.

Hua made the remarks after Vietnamese Vice-Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh voiced support for the United States' presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

When meeting Cara Abercrombie, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and South-East Asia on Monday, Nguyen said Vietnam supports US "intervention" in the Asia-Pacific region if it helps keep peace and stability, Reuters reported.

Responding to the report, Hua said: "History and reality both show that a country's sovereignty, security and development interests should be judged, handled and maintained by its own people.

Likewise, peace, stability and the prosperity of a region should be maintained together by all the regional countries through negotiation and cooperation, instead of relying on so-called 'intervention' by a certain country or some certain countries."