“Welcome to Chinawood to develop your career,” said another sarcastically, suggesting the actress was pro-Beijing.

Biden is not the favourite among Hong Kong protesters and some prominent opposition figures who prefer US President Donald Trump to win a second term, believing he will be tougher on China.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy forces generally want the candidate who can best bash China to win.

But others in the camp, including Samuel Chu, founder of the Washington-based advocacy group Hong Kong Democracy Council, warned against merely focusing on Trump or Biden.

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Chu’s organisation has lobbied US lawmakers to support numerous bills related to Hong Kong affairs, and he is the first American citizen being sought by Hong Kong police on suspicion of breaking the national security law.

He said securing bipartisan support on Hong Kong affairs in the polarised US Congress was more important for sustaining the city’s pro-democracy movement and best for its long-term interests.

“We are not electing a strong man in the US to confront another strong man in China,” he said.

“Relying on one politician and political party will not be beneficial. Trump only started to openly blame China more when it became necessary for electioneering.”

Hong Kong activists’ support for Trump goes back to last year’s anti-government rallies, when black-clad protesters waved US flags and banners that read: “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong.” At several demonstrations, they called on Washington to stand up to Beijing.

Trump responded by expressing support for the protesters and claimed last November that he had “saved Hong Kong” by persuading Chinese President Xi Jinping to hold off sending in troops to crush the protests.

“If it weren’t for me, Hong Kong would have been obliterated in 14 minutes,” he told Fox News.

In recent months, his administration has sanctioned senior Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials, revoked Hong Kong’s special status for diplomacy and trade, and signed US acts to back anti-government protesters or sanction individuals deemed to have eroded the city’s autonomy, triggering retaliation from China.

Political commentator Simon Lau Sai-leung, who also prefers Trump to win, said he was against the US Democratic Party’s policy of engagement with China during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice-president.

That policy enabled interest groups in the US to gain huge benefits for years, said Lau, an adviser to the Hong Kong government’s now-defunct think tank, the Central Policy Unit, from 2006 to 2012.

“If Biden wins, he will return to his old path and honour international agreements without any drastic approach to contain China,” he said.

Although Biden has pledged repeatedly that as president, he will work to curb China’s influence in trade and technology, some pro-democracy supporters in Hong Kong are not convinced.

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They expect Biden to be less tough, because in seeking to differentiate himself from Trump, he has said he will look into opportunities to work with China on global challenges, including climate change and the pandemic.

Hong Kong’s opposition elites are divided on their preference for the next US president.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting said he had no high hopes of Trump “saving Hong Kong”, as the US administration’s tussle with China was restricted largely to trade and blaming Beijing for the pandemic.

“Regardless of who wins, the US will remain confrontational toward China in the next five years,” Lam said. “The only difference is that Trump’s approach might be more drastic than Biden’s.”

Kevin Yam Kin-fung, former convenor of the pro-democracy Progressive Lawyers Group, questioned Trump’s human rights record and said Biden has shown greater commitment to upholding universal values in the domestic sphere.

“Biden is more likely to rebuild free-world alliances,” he tweeted. “This will provide a foundation for him to push a human rights agenda on the world stage. To put faith in an anti-universal values political charlatan is just naive and foolish.”

Wilson Chan Wai-shun, founding secretary general of Global Studies Institute (Hong Kong), a research provider, said the impression of Trump as iron-fisted and Biden as soft on China was not necessarily accurate.

While Trump’s approach on China may have been aggressive, he has also pushed away many of America’s oldest allies in Europe and Asia.

If Biden wins, he will be able to reconnect with these countries to contain China. “This may bring even bigger pressure on China,” Chan said.

He added that even if Trump lost, his China policies would remain a legacy and Biden was unlikely to make drastic changes.

Like Washington-based Chu, Chan said Hong Kong activists would do better to work towards increasing bipartisan support for their goals in the US Congress instead of lobbying a head of state.

Veteran China watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu said that whoever won, the two countries would stay on the path to long-term confrontation.

As for US policies on Hong Kong, he said the ball was in Beijing’s court.

“Hong Kong has been a pawn in the US-China battle,” he said. “Washington’s next move depends more on whether Chinese leaders continue to adopt a heavy-handed approach to Hong Kong than the US president’s ruling style. If Biden wins, he can be expected to be tough too.”