BEIJING- China announced plans on Monday for the further opening up of its southern island province of Hainan, the Xinhua news agency said.

The plans will facilitate free trade, investment and cross-border capital flows in Hainan, and eventually designated imported goods will be exempted from tariffs on the whole island, Xinhua said. The government will also offer favourable tax policies to companies in Hainan, it added.

China will steadily raise the special local government bond quota to support infrastructure construction in Hainan and encourage it to issue local government bonds to overseas investors, it added.

(Reporting by Judy Hua, Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo Editing by Gareth Jones) ((judy.hua@thomsonreuters.com; 8610-6627 1297; Reuters Messaging: judy.hua.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))