You may not pay the fee, but you will have to bear the consequences of not paying the fee: this patent application will be deemed to have been abandoned.
After the patent application is approved, you will receive an authorization notice and a notification of registration procedures. Therefore, you need to pay the relevant registration fees, annual fees and stamp duties in order to obtain the patent certificate. Otherwise, if the time limit is exceeded, the national intellectual property rights The Bureau will issue a deemed abandonment notice.
In addition, after successfully obtaining the patent certificate, you also need to pay an annual patent fee. Otherwise, the patent right will be terminated. That is, the State Intellectual Property Office will issue a patent right termination notice and pay the patent annual fee. Fees are the obligation of every patentee. Failure to pay fees means having to bear the legal consequences of giving up the patent.