President Benigno Aquino 3rd on Thursday assailed China’s ongoing “reclamation” project in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) which, he said, could only heighten tensions in the disputed territory.

“We receive many intelligence [reports] indicating that what we call rocks and features are being reclaimed to make an island. It is because an island has a right and a rock has none, pertaining to [China’s] boundaries,” the President said in an interview.