This all comes at the tail end of criticism by President Obama’s administration (U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton) and Google themselves. Google threatened to leave the country. So what?

Well, if you’re Google, you know that a high percentage of your products’ components are manufactured in China. Those components are exported for final assembly in Taiwan and else where through HTC (makers of the Android G1) or others. Being Google, you also have pull on Motorola and they in turn manufacture a great deal of their phones in the Middle Country (China).

The orchestrated leveraging is perhaps a milestone, but how you ask? If a country, like the U.S., can’t make China move then how does a rather influential search engine (now cell phone platform and software) maker do it? Economically. It’s a sure thing that Google’s departure would have minimal damage on China’s GDP, but the fact remains that they made China change their minds. This here is a lesson in economic and political diplomacy.

But it also underlines a growing world-wide reliance on Google. The company is no longer just a search engine. It’s software and cloud computing infrastructure is really the future of computing.

Now, to be fair and clear, Google appears to be a tough company. Unlike the Microsoft of years ago, they appear to be singly minded in getting their way because they provide content for free. They make their money through adverts and now cell phones. It’s likely that we’ll see a Google touchpad (iPad killer) within a year or two and it will come with all the bells and whistles of the it’s competitor, but at a better price point. That’s where Google excels.

It may be temporary, but note that this may be the first time that a public company made China play nice.