LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - A Shein representative

declined to provide a direct answer when asked by a British

parliamentary committee on Tuesday whether the online

fast-fashion retailer uses cotton from China, a key issue for

potential investors concerned about its supply chain.

It was the first opportunity for British lawmakers to

publicly question the company working towards a London initial

public offering, as part of a hearing focused on labour rights

in global supply chains which online retailer Temu also

participated in.

Singapore-headquartered Shein, which was founded in China in

2012, is awaiting regulatory approvals for the IPO from both

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority and China's securities

regulator.

Shein's general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa

(EMEA), Yinan Zhu, said: "The suppliers we work with, they are

based in China, in Turkey and Brazil, and obviously many of them

are in China."

She asked the committee for permission to write to them

about further questions, when pressed further on whether the

company sources cotton from China.

Asked about the IPO, Zhu said she was not able to comment.

Growing visibly exasperated, the chair of the committee Liam

Byrne said: "You can't tell us anything about listing, you can't

tell us anything about cotton in Shein products, and you can't

tell us much, in fact."

The U.S. and NGOs have long accused China of human rights

abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where they say

Uyghurs are forced to work producing cotton and other goods.

Shein has previously said it requires contract manufacturers

to only source cotton from approved regions, and that it has a

zero-tolerance policy for forced labour.

But publicly distancing itself from Xinjiang cotton is

risky, as clothing retailers that have done so in the past faced

criticism and boycotts from Chinese consumers, and pushback from

Chinese authorities.

Most recently, Japan's Uniqlo was slammed on Chinese social

media after a November BBC interview in which Chief Executive

Tadashi Yanai said the retailer is not using cotton from the

region.

In contrast with Zhu, Temu's senior legal counsel Stephen

Heary said the online retailer, part of Chinese ecommerce giant

PDD Holdings ( PDD ), does not permit sellers from the Xinjiang

region to sell on its platform.