Before the Opium War, the annual income of the Qing government was about100000. After the Opium War, due to the development of foreign trade and industry and commerce, the income increased greatly, about 80 million taels in Daoguang, 60 million taels in Tongzhi and 80 million taels in Guangxu's early years, but the balance was not much except expenditure.
Therefore, whether it is 220 million or 450 million, it greatly exceeds the ability of the Qing government to pay. It can only be paid by borrowing from foreign consortia or banks.
Especially in the Xin Chou Treaty, the total principal and interest exceeded 900 million taels, which was more than 10 times the annual income of the Qing government at that time. According to the agreement, it will be paid off in 39 years. If the payment is made from 1900, it will probably not be paid off until 1939.
In fact, in the process of repayment, the actual expenditure is still increasing due to reasons such as falling silver price, regime change, repeated loans and interest.
Due to the influence of World War I and World War II, China stopped paying some national reparations and actually spent 650 million taels.
This is actually caused by the external weakness of successive governments of the Republic of China, including the Beiyang government and the National Government. After the founding of New China, all unequal treaties signed by the National Government were resolutely abolished, including the re-establishment of diplomatic relations (it has been 49 years since we established diplomatic relations with a certain country, and the actual diplomatic relations can be traced back at least to the late Qing Dynasty). According to Mao, it is "cleaning the house first, then inviting guests". So you can't do it without some courage.