This is exactly what China was hoping for. Either they got their money back with some interest, which is a zero win really, or China got to go after all the stuff they couldn’t have gotten to without armed conflict.
Sorta like how your bookie is cool lending you 10k to bet on some sure thing, and when you lose and don’t have the 10k? Then he’s reluctantly ok with taking possession of your 20k car in exchange for only breaking your fingers.
If anybody is about to learn a lesson it’s the developing countries, and the lesson? pay up or drop your pants and bend over