China said on Tuesday it will conduct military exercises in the South China Sea this week, just days after Beijing bristled at a US aircraft carrier group's entry into the disputed waters.

A notice issued by the country's Maritime Safety Administration prohibited entry into a portion of waters in the Gulf of Tonkin to the west of the Leizhou peninsula in southwestern China from Jan 27 to 30, but it did not offer details on when the drills would take place or at what scale...