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The People's Insurance Company of China, or PICC is planning to go ahead with its initial public offering later this year . However, it remains to be seen if the company will go through with its planned dual-listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai or if the firm will just list in Hong Kong.

Chinese state-owned insurer PICC is looking to raise as much as $3 billion in its IPO, making PICC's debut one of the largest IPOs in the world this year. PICC is China's fifth largest insurance company.

However, it remains to be seen if the company will go through with its initial plan of listing in both Hong Kong and Shanghai. PICC is considering only listing on the Hong Kong's Hang Seng exchange as the company is having trouble gaining approval from regulators to list in Shanghai as well.

There is speculation that the Chinese government does not want PICC to list in Shanghai over fears that this could cause additional pressure on the Chinese stock market. The Shanghai Composite ( FXI , quote ) is already down 18% this year, and with a major political transition due later in the year, the government does not need the market to move another leg down.

The hesitance on the part of both the government and a prominent state owned enterprise should give investors who are considering putting money into China pause. With the Chinese economy slowing,  and Chinese investors losing faith in their equities markets thanks to the opaque nature of the exchanges, the Shenzhen and Shanghai exchanges are more likely to face downward pressure than upwards going forward.

Investors looking for exposure to China are probably better off looking at American-based multinationals with large sales in China as their financials are much more easily accessible and, frankly, trustworthy than those of some of their Chinese counterparts.

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