Bush China Move Stirs Capitol Hill Critics : Politics: Democrats and a sprinkling of Republicans vow to seek reversal of trade benefits.

Congressional Democrats and a sprinkling of Republicans denounced President Bush’s renewal of trade benefits for China on Thursday and vowed to enact legislation reversing the decision.

Within hours of Bush’s announcement that he plans to extend China’s most-favored-nation trade status for a year, measures to nullify the action were introduced in both Senate and House.

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) called the President’s decision “inconsistent with American values . . . contrary to American interests and . . . profoundly wrong.”

“I’ll tell you one thing: China is not my most favored nation,” said Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), chairman of the Asia subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He scheduled a June 5 hearing on the issue.

Nevertheless, Bush’s opponents face an uphill battle to muster the necessary two-thirds majority in both houses to override the President’s certain veto of a resolution of disapproval.

Despite the emotional criticism of the President’s action, the most-favored-nation bill enjoys substantial support among U.S. firms that do business with China. Leaders of these companies can be expected to make their views known on Capitol Hill before the matter is brought to a vote sometime this summer.

Bush narrowly averted defeat last January when the Senate fell four votes short of overturning his veto of legislation protecting Chinese students in the United States from deportation. The Senate action came after the House had voted overwhelmingly to override the veto.

The President had far less support in the business community for his position on the student bill than he enjoys on the most-favored-nation issue. Also, the vote on the earlier measure was taken when the memory of the Tian An Men Square crackdown was fresher.

Still, the initial reaction on Capitol Hill was overwhelmingly critical. Although Democrats were the most numerous, some conservative Republicans, including Sens. Alphonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and Jake Garn (R-Utah), joined in.

“Sought-after trade concessions should not be given to the butchers of Beijing,” D’Amato said. “America must have only one standard for human rights. MFN for China at this time is a repudiation of everything this country stands for: freedom, human rights and democracy.”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said that Bush’s decision “puts the United States on the wrong side of human rights. . . . “

Sen. Alan Dixon (D-Ill.), co-author with D’Amato of one resolution to reverse Bush’s decision, told a press conference that the Chinese leadership’s record on human rights abuses has gotten worse since the Beijing massacre, despite Bush’s efforts at “appeasement.”

“The government of the People’s Republic has stepped up persecution of the Roman Catholic Church and other groups and has purged or persecuted Chinese academics, journalists, police and government officials who expressed any support for the democracy movement,” Dixon said.

Times staff writer Shawn Pogatchnik contributed to this story.