According to the general principles of civil law

Article 108 A debt shall be paid off. If it is temporarily unable to repay, it may be repaid by the debtor in installments with the consent of the creditor or the ruling of the people's court. Those who have the ability to repay and refuse to repay shall be forced to repay by the people's court.

Therefore, it is certain that the debtor must repay the debt. But at present, there are two situations in society where debts cannot be repaid. One is unable to repay, the other is unable to repay.

Extended data

There are two different situations in which the debtor is unable to repay:

One is temporarily unable to repay. If this is the case, it can be repaid by the debtor in installments in accordance with the relevant provisions of the above general principles of civil law.

The other is permanent inability to repay. If it is permanently impossible to pay off, it can only be paid off with the debtor's personal existing property, which will be tried by the court, made a judgment and then put into execution. That is to say, the creditor will take as much as the debtor has personal property available for execution.

National People's Congress-General Principles of Civil Law in People's Republic of China (PRC) (China)