Google has redirected its Chinese users to a Honk Kong search engine to avoid the censorship of mainland China in a move that underscores the Internet giant’s volatility in the Communist country. Google has accused China of blocking users access to Google.cn, the search engine’s Chinese website. Although Google has a relatively large presence in China at 36% of the search engine market with 600 employees, the country accounts for just 2% of their total revenue.

In Hong Kong, laws are looser than in mainland China, and Google has seized upon this fact to continue allowing their Chinese users to have unmediated access to the Internet. The Chinese government can deny its citizenry access to this site at any time, as they have control over all of the .cn domains.

Already China has expressed “discontent and indignation” at Google for its attempts to allow for freedom of speech and Internet access.  This bold move may relay to other companies working within China a message about how, and whether or not, to continue providing China with its own unique set of provisions. It remains to be seen whether Chinese officials will block access to the Hong Kong site.