Chinese citizens should not go to Poland or some other central and eastern European countries for work in the near future, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday in an online notice.

    Many overseas Chinese workers in the region had not been paid, since employers had been affected by currency devaluations, the depressed construction industry and a shrinking market, the ministry said.

    Also, with soaring unemployment in those countries, demand for foreign workers had shrunk, it said. It warned Chinese labor service companies to suspend sending Chinese workers to the area.