No More Google in China. What does that mean for you?

Well, to be perfectly honest, not much if you are living outside of China proper. However, Google's departure appears to be a microcosm of the growing tension between China and the United States. In response to news that Google was leaving, a vice minister in China used Google's flight as a context to discuss the U.S.'s "faulty" claims and assumptions about the value of their currency.

I cannot help but to think that this minister is using the Google withdrawal as an opportunity to comment on the larger international tensions between China and the US. This is especially troubling when you consider that Google is a company not a government, and there is no correlation between the valuation of Chinese currency and Google's choice to withdraw. Nevertheless, this minister, much like the rest of us, sees the internet as a forum for public debate. But should it be? My guess is no, the fact that government employees are associating the actions of a internet super company with the the statements of the US government is a scary reality. But not for all of us.

Those of you who bought stock in China's search engine Baidu Corporation earlier this fall, probably have made about 56% returns. But at what cost? The ebb and flow of U.S. relations with China seem to be deteriorating, whether the argument is about trade deficits, currency valuation, or the recent sale of Black Hawk helicopters and Patriot Defense Missile systems to Taiwan.

What do you think? Is it just me or is the Google V. China death match a symbol of tension or the nature of the business cycle?