Will Google’s Spat With Beijing Trigger Other Problems?

In the wake of Google’s spat with Beijing, will other companies challenge the way China does business?

That's the chatter on Wall Street after Google announced plans to shutter its search engine on mainland China and re-route searches through a site it runs in Hong Kong.

In case you’re like us and wondering why Hong Kong, we did some research and found that as a former British colony, Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and enjoys more freedom, including an uncensored Internet.

"Although an escalating conflict is hardly good for business, I don’t blame them for falling on their sword for the moral cause," says Patty Edwards of Storehouse on the Fast Money Halftime Report.

Google's decision comes during heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington over issues ranging from Internet freedom to the yuan exchange rate, economic sanctions on Iran and U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

For the record, our government said earlier in the week that Google’s decision to shut its mainland Chinese-language portal was a business decision by the company that did not involve the U.S. government.

What’s the trade?

In a note to clients, Kaufman analytst Aaron Kessler said Google's pain was Baidu's gain and he upgraded Baidu to "Buy" from "Hold" and raised his price target to $690 from $540.

If you want to play China I'd go with domestic companies like China Unicom, China Tel and to some extent China Mobile , says Tim Seymour.

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