Chinese tourists on the democratic island of Taiwan on Tuesday appeared baffled by a huge, inflatable installation of a People's Liberation Army tank being faced down by an inflatable Tank Man. Photos of the installation outside iconic Taiwan monuments including the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall have been making the rounds on social media.
And while some Chinese tourists in the island's capital, Taipei, snapped photos of the art work ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, those who spoke to RFA were quick to dismiss any political implications. "I don't know," answered one tourist outside the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Tuesday, who said he was from China. Asked if he knew about June 4, 1989, when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) cleared Beijing after weeks of student-led protests, deploying tanks and machine guns against unarmed civilians, the tourist said: "I don't know."
