"Companies would be a little bit suspicious because in general the Chinese government has not done anything to curb this activity," he said.

But China's importance to U.S. firms is huge, and Inc. is only the most recent company to illustrate why.

There was a brief eye-opening moment this week when it appeared as if the Google's exodus from China was about to escalate in a big way.

India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, was reported to have said in speech that Dell was planning to shift some production out of China because it wanted safer environment. CEO Michael Dell had recently met with Singh.

The statement came from account distributed by the India Press Information Bureau, according to various press reports. But David Frink, a Dell spokesman said in an interview, that was a "misinterpretation of his remarks."