ABSTRACT
The conversion of China had been a desire from the earliest days of the Iberian presence in Asia and a number of attempts to begin the process had been made. The Portuguese Jesuits had secured a foothold in Macao but the Portuguese seem to have been intent on blocking any Spanish ventures. As Sheehan puts it:
By the early 1590s, Spanish Manila had also become increasingly isolated from its neighboring cultural and political entities. This appears to have been due in no small part to the success of the Macau-based Portuguese in thwarting Spanish expansionist sentiments. 1
