BEIJING - China is firmly committed to safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and emphasizes that maritime disputes should be resolved peacefully through negotiations and consultations by countries directly concerned, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

"Any provocations or threats are futile and will never succeed," Lin Jian said at a press briefing when asked to comment on recent remarks made by a US State Department spokesperson about the South China Sea.

He said that all available facts and evidence indicate the Philippines provoked first. The United States, disregarding the facts, smeared China's legitimate actions to safeguard its own rights, and even attempted to leverage the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty as a threat.

This once again exposed the US side's malicious intention to deliberately stir up confrontation and destabilize the South China Sea, showing that the United States is the biggest source of risk undermining regional stability, he added.