When Stella* saw a car parked outside a café in the Auckland CBD on Thursday with Chinese police insignia, she was shocked.
“I lived in China for a number of years and seeing a Chinese police car there wouldn’t raise alarm,” she said. “But seeing it here is quite intimidating.”
Across the side of the white Toyota RAV4 were the characters 公安, meaning “public security” and commonly used by police in China. There was a police-style emblem on the door and blue and yellow markings running along the body.
“It made me immediately think, what are the Chinese police doing here?”
I sent one to Freeman Yu, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government’s influence in New Zealand, to see what he made of it.
“I am aware of this matter. I have already reported it to the 105 police online.”
Yu said he reported it because he believed it could be an offence and a potential public safety risk.
In his report to police in July, which Stuff has seen, he said: “The fact that this car is painted to look like a Chinese police vehicle is disturbing and highly inappropriate.”
But the car Yu reported had a different number plate than the one seen by Stella, and was a different make – a white Tesla Model 3.
Images of the Tesla have circulated on Chinese-language social media.
Hellbound and Down 