Luso-Chinese agreement

After several military conflicts in 1521 and 1522 failed to establish a foothold in China, trade was conducted as smuggling and was fought by the authorities, who considered Portuguese to be "Folangji" (Frankish) pirates.

Leonel de Sousa, Captain-Major of the voyage to Japan,[2] had reached the coast of Guangdong in 1552, where he learned that all foreigners could trade through the payment of taxes to the Chinese, except the "Folanji" including Portuguese, then considered as pirates.

In 1554 Leonel de Sousa made an agreement with Guangzhou's officials to legalise trade with the Portuguese, on condition of paying certain customs duties.

The single surviving written evidence of this agreement is a letter from Leonel de Sousa to Infante Louis, king John III's brother, dated 1556,[4][5] which states that the Portuguese undertook fee payments and were not erecting fortifications.

[2] The letter describes the protracted negotiations with the haitao Wang Bo, who was identified in Chinese sources as having accepted a bribe from the Portuguese to dry their cargo and pay taxes in Guangzhou.