An outspoken protester against the Chinese Government has unleashed on the driver of a fake Chinese police vehicle allegedly carrying firearms through Sydney.
Police spotted a Mercedes S-Class in Strathfield, in the city’s inner west, about 2.50pm on Friday bearing a police insignia on the doors and bonnet, the word ‘police’ in Mandarin and the misspelt word ‘poilce’ in English.
The 21-year-old driver allegedly presented a forged document to officers, claiming the vehicle was being used to transport Chinese consulate officials.
Officers searched the car and allegedly discovered a box containing 48 live rounds of ammunition in the boot.
The driver allegedly told officers the boot was the ‘best place’ to store the ammunition and that he had a valid firearms licence and two guns at home.
He was charged with multiple offences, including using false documents to influence exercise of public duty.
The alleged incident has drawn the ire of social media commentator Drew Pavlou, 26, who slammed the driver for his ‘lack of respect’.
‘It’s just so unbelievably disrespectful to Australia as a country, and to all Australians,’ the anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) activist told Daily Mail Australia.
NSW Police spotted the Mercedes S-Class in Sydney on Friday, with ‘police’ incorrectly spelt
This Jeep, spotted on the NSW south coast, displayed the markings of a fake Chinese car
Pavlous (pictured) said people who support the Chinese Communist Party should be deported
‘I think it shows the lack of respect that supporters of the Chinese government have towards Australia.
‘They come to Australia – people who openly support the Chinese government – (and) they think so little of Australia and Australians, they think that they are a law unto themselves.
‘They act as though we already are basically just a vassal state or a puppet state, and they don’t have to show any respect for our laws, our police, our country.’
Mr Pavlou, who is a law graduate from the University of Queensland, has used his social media following to spread his opposition to the Chinese Communist Party.
While running for the Queensland Senate in 2022 under his own party ‘Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance’, he dressed as a Chinese Red Guard during a protest.
The action by Pavlou was to highlight Liberal MP Gladys Liu’s former connections with Chinese Communist Party-linked groups.
He was also ordered to pay a $3,100 penalty by the Brisbane Magistrates Court in October 2023 for unlawfully displaying an advert outside the Chinese consulate which referenced the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
‘Anybody who expresses open support for (the CCP) in Australia, they have to leave. That’s the answer,’ Pavlou said.
Social media commentator Drew Pavlou (pictured, right) has slammed a driver who allegedly was caught in a fake ‘Chinese police’ car in Sydney
‘People who do things like this, where they where they put Chinese police car insignia on their cars – they have to be deported. They can’t be in Australia.’
The driver of the Mercedes S-class, who was identified by The Daily Telegraph as Kunlang Li, fronted Burwood Court on Tuesday.
He faces multiple charges including displaying emergency services organisation insignia, driving a motor vehicle with unlawful police insignia, and using false documents to influence exercise of public duty.
He was charged with providing information known to be false or misleading, possessing an unauthorised prohibited firearm, and not displaying P plates.
During his court appearance, Magistrate Jeff Tunks asked Li via his interpreter to enter a plea.
But after being asked how he would plead to the charge of driving a motor vehicle with unlawful police insignia and a pause, Li’s interpreter told the court he needed more time to seek legal advice.
The court was adjourned to August 11 and Li’s bail continued.
This is not the first instance of alleged ‘Chinese police’ cars spotted on Australian streets.
In April 2023, at least two ‘Chinese police vehicles’ were spotted less than a week apart with a sedan seen in Melbourne and a Jeep found in NSW.
The Jeep, which also sported the logo from the toy and movie franchise Transformers, had a Chinese police crest and Mandarin characters almost identical to a Nissan Maxima spotted in Melbourne a few days earlier.
