Note that the pre-1949 KMT bonds were to be paid in gold - not some government paper fiat currency. So no wonder it is still worth to argue about repayment.
Contrast with present US Govt debt, which is all denominated in green pieces of paper. All bond-holders will definitely be paid - just fire-up the printing presses!
Are the CCP folks over their buying all that gold you read about so they can start paying us and others back the money they owe from when the Chicoms grabbed control from the Nationalists and chased them off shore to Formosa (Taiwan)?
There is a US state, Alabama or Georgia maybe, can’t recall the details, that to this day is prohibited from doing business or selling bonds in the city of London. Seems they defaulted on their bonds in the 1870s or something like that. Bankers have long memories.