The organizers of the Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, which was founded in 1979 and held its annual event this past Sunday, are facing backlash for their relationship with the current government of Hong Kong, which is controlled by the People’s Republic of China.

In a Facebook post, the group Hong Kong Social Action Movements in Boston said it is urging the festival’s organizers to cut ties with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, which represents Hong Kong’s interests abroad.

A Hong Kong government press release issued over the weekend noted that the Boston event was supported by the HKETO's New York office. The release also offered an upbeat assessment of the current situation in Hong Kong, saying the region, which was controlled by Great Britain until 1997, has “fully resumed connectivity with the world, and is full of exciting opportunities.”

But the U.S. government has a markedly different assessment of life in Hong Kong. In a March statement titled “ Hong Kong's Declining Rule of Law,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong’s government had “further criminalized dissent, undermining the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people in Hong Kong and dismantling the city’s promised autonomy.”

Before the Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival took place over the weekend, Hong Kong Social Action Movements in Boston and 22 other groups also released an open letter urging organizers to sever their relationship with the HKETO.

In an interview with GBH News, Kevin Ko, a member of Hong Kong Social Action Movements in Boston, took issue with Boston City Council President Ed Flynn’s attendance at and characterization of the event. In a tweet, Flynn said the festival “celebrated the #AAPI community of Greater Boston.”

“I’m not saying that that’s wrong to support AAPI,” said Ko, who protested at the festival. “But it’s wrong how … the Chinese government, or a lot of Chinese organizations that we know are sponsored by or have a close relation with the Chinese government, [are] presenting themselves as the whole AAPI community.

“I believe that Ed Flynn should realize that there are people that are under suppression from the [Chinese Communist Party] government, and we want our freedoms, and we want our democracy and human rights,” Ko added.

Neither Flynn nor the Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival have responded to requests for comment from GBH News.

Another critic of the Boston event, Brian Kern of the Washington-based group DC4HK, said pushback aimed at Boston’s festival is part of a broader campaign to discourage cooperation between U.S. institutions and the Hong Kong government, which has become increasingly repressive since a wave of pro-democracy protests roiled the region in 2019 and 2020.

“As of today, there are 1515 political prisoners in Hong Kong, which is about as many as Belarus has,” Kern said. “Pre-2019, there were a couple of dozen people who could be classified as political prisoners. … The right to political participation has been abolished, basically.”

Last year, Kern said, he and other activists pressured the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art to stop partnering with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, a step the museum ultimately took.

Bipartisan legislation currently pending in Congress and backed by U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) could force the HKETO to cease operations in the United States.