TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — An artist has erected an inflatable display in Taiwan’s capital to mark an iconic moment in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests.
The larger-than-life balloon installation, which stands in front of Taipei’s famous Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, portrays a peaceful encounter between a Chinese civilian and the military tanks that contributed to a brutal shutdown of the demonstrations in Beijing on June 4, 1989.
The tank standoff, memorialized by several photographers including Jeff Widener of The Associated Press , has become a symbol of defiance around the world.
While public remembrances of the Tiananmen protests are strictly forbidden in mainland China, there are regular commemorations in democratically governed Taiwan.
The island split from mainland China amid civil war in 1949, though Beijing still claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
