Taiwan's export-import bank keeps winning in court but still can't collect on old African loans, a bad outcome for Taiwan's taxpayers and a sign of how little leverage court wins carry.

• Taiwan lent money to Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guinea-Bissau back in the early 1990s, and none of it came back.
• US courts ruled in Taiwan's favor in 2017, ordering the two African governments to repay more than $200 million combined.
• Congo simply ignored the ruling and refused to hand over financial records, so the court hit it with contempt fines twice, now totalling over $20 million on top of the original debt.
• The fines do not cancel the original debt, and Congo still owes Taiwan tens of millions according to IMF records this year.
• Congo cut ties with Taipei back in 1973 and never switched sides, yet still took the money; Central African Republic switched to Beijing in 1998.

Outlook: Both debts remain stuck in talks with no realistic path to full repayment, so Taiwan is likely to keep piling up unenforceable court wins.