00:00Candlelit vigils are being held in Taipei to mark the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown
00:07when Chinese troops opened fire on student protesters in Beijing.
00:12Hundreds, if not thousands, were killed and China's democracy movement was brought to a halt.
00:19Rick Laot is live for us in Taipei at one of the vigils.
00:24Rick, tell us how Taiwan's marking this anniversary.
00:30So here at Liberty Square in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, democracy groups, rights activists, NGOs have been holding a democracy market.
00:39There's been art exhibitions and film screenings and it's culminating in speeches and a candlelit vigil for those that died at Tiananmen Square.
00:48Taiwan is, of course, one of the only Chinese-speaking countries that could hold an event like this.
00:54Any mention of Tiananmen Square is, of course, banned in China and also more recently in Hong Kong as Beijing tightens its grip of that city.
01:02But Taiwan's president, Lighting De, on a social media post today, said that Taiwan refuses to forget the events of that day.
01:10And he said that democracies have a responsibility to remember those that suffered for human rights.
01:17The theme of the event here today is pushing back on transnational repression and totalitarianism.
01:23It's something that echoes here in Taiwan as they push back against the Chinese Communist Party's claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.
01:31Earlier, I spoke to one of the event's organizers.
01:34I had been here as a사 physician.
01:36Taiwan is not a part of China.
01:38Taiwan is able to make a choice in a safe country to dump all the things that things have been killed.
01:48Taiwan means to help China restore the historical impact of the history of the people.
01:56Taiwan is safe in a safe country, and that there are all the people who killed the people who killed the people.
02:03in Taiwan. This is a change of change. This is also a change of change.
02:15Taking to the stage here tonight are Tiananmen Square survivors as well as Uyghur, Hong Kong and Tibetan activists in exile.
02:23Seems that, of course, are unimaginable in Beijing and Hong Kong where in the run-up to this anniversary there's been massive security crackdowns.
02:30Hong Kong's leader promising a swift and tough response to any national security infringement.
02:36There was even a raid on a candle shop there.
02:39But the message from here in Taipei is that Taiwan will not forget the events of that day and they will remember those that died and they will hold the torch of defending democracy.
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