Another consumer play is China Mobile, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange as CHL.
"CHL is one of their national cell phone companies and they have something like 400 million or 500 million customers," Trippon says. "And whether they have exports or don't have exports, the wife is still going to call her husband on the way home from work." He also mentions Chinese pharmaceutical or health-care companies, since the Chinese government is on a spending spree to improve health care in rural areas and the Chinese consumer with expanding per capita income now has more money to pay for his own health care.
On the whole, say observers, the Asian countries have become more interdependent, with China the nexus drawing it all together, a country that's outsourcing its cheap labor and now serving as the main export destination. "We think the best approach [in the region] is two-pronged," says Mark Luschini, the chief investment strategist at Philadelphia's Janney Montgomery Scott. "Invest in globally geared companies selling into these markets and at the same time consider allocating cash to emerging markets vehicles through a mutual fund or ETF to get direct exposure to the growth that should remain relatively strong, especially when compared to developed countries, for years to come."