A video of a policeman in China speaking what sounds like Singlish-influenced English has gone viral in the country, with several netizens applauding his skills.

Mr Li Yanqi, a traffic policeman in north-western China's Xi'an city, was on patrol on June 11 when he stopped some foreign students riding motorcycles without licence plates, Sina.com reported.

He told Chinese media: "I used Mandarin to ask them if they speak Mandarin, and they said 'no'."

Mr Li then tapped into his English skills which he had picked up while working in Singapore.

"I ask you a question," he says in a widely shared video. "You driving a car in your country you need driver licence or not?"

The man answered yes. They then engaged in a verbal tussle, with Mr Li peppering his speech with colloquialisms that would not be out of place in Singapore.

Eventually he concludes: "So bring your IC card. You got IC card or not. Can I also get... a passport? Student card?"

As for the foreign students' motorcycles, they were confiscated.

Mr Li later told China's news website The Paper that he had worked in Singapore for two years and picked up some English while he was there.

One netizen commented in Chinese that his Singlish was "simply spot on".

Another said: "Looks like learning English is of some use after all."