# Sino-Spanish conflicts

The Sino-Spanish conflicts were a series of conflicts between the Spanish authorities of the Spanish Empire and its Sangley Chinese residents in Spanish Philippines between the 16th and 18th centuries, which led to the Chinese assassinations of two Spanish governor generals, assassination of Spanish constables, Spain permanently losing Maluku under threat of Chinese attack, and massacres of the local Sangley Chinese residents due to generalized Anti-Chinese paranoia by the then ruling Spanish governor-generals.

## History
### Origin of the conflict

The Moro Sultanate of Sulu wanted to become a protectorate of China because of the Spanish Empire, but the ethnic Manchu Kangxi Emperor opposed fighting Spain and rejected this proposal. Koxinga, ruler of newly founded Kingdom of Tungning, and his son Zheng Jing threatened to invade the Spanish Philippines in retaliation for the Sangley Massacre (1662), forcing the Spanish to permanently lose their Maluku Islands colony and withdraw from Mindanao's Zamboanga Peninsula for decades. In the 18th century 4,000 ethnic Han Chinese residents joined the Moros to fight the Spanish and ethnic Chinese merchants shipped guns to the Moros in the late 19th century.
Koxinga's death stopped the initial planned invasion of Spanish Philippines, but his son Zheng Jing forced Spain to pay tribute to him in Taiwan and to grant him extrajudicial rights over the Chinese community in Manila, and forbade the Spanish to proselytize their religion to the Chinese residents. Spanish Governor-General Manuel de León and Queen-Regent Mariana were unable to resist him as Zheng Jing prepared to invade himself.
The Kingdom of Tungning did not threaten the Spanish Empire nor Spanish interests. King Philip IV of Spain therefore saw no reason to attack it and upset a fragile status quo that he sought to maintain.
The Spanish garrison in Manila was in terrible condition and both the English and Dutch East India companies said that if Zheng Jing had followed through with his planned invasion in 1671 after the monsoon season, he would have won.
On July 27, 1713, the tribunal, acting in a legislative capacity, decreed that within thirty days "all Moros, Armenians, Malabars, Chinese and other enemies of the Holy Faith" should be lodged in the Parián when visiting Manila, or when living there temporarily for purposes of visit or trade. Penalties were also prescribed for infractions.
Governor-General Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas was killed by the 250 Chinese rowers he forced to row his galley in 1593.
Chinese-Spanish friction began with the Chinese rebellion of P'an Ho Wu in 1593, according to the Ming Annals.
After the assassination of the governor, the Chinese crew took possession of the ship and its valuables and proceeded to Annan. Lei Mao Lin (Luis Pérez Dasmariñas), son of Gomez, went to China to ask indemnity for the murder of his father, but did not get any satisfaction.
Koxinga's threat forced Spain in 1633 to abandon Zamboanga and led to an escalation of fighting between Moro Muslims and Spanish in Mindanao.

### 1593 massacre of the Spanish governor general and his crew

Pan Hewu 潘和五 (spelled as P'an Ho-wu in Wade Giles) led 250 Chinese rowers to slaughter Spanish governor general Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas 郎雷敝裏系朥 and the majority of his Spanish crewmen in 1593 while Dasmariñas was travelling between Moluccas and the Philippines. The Spanish had whipped some of the Chinese rowers when Pan Hewu gathered his fellow Chinese rowers and said "Let us revolt and die in that way. Should we submit to being flogged to death or suffer any other such ignominious death ? Should we not rather die in battle ? Let us stab this chieftain to death and save our lives. If we are victorious, let us hoist the sails and return to our country. If we should succumb and be fettered, it will be time enough then to die !"( 叛死，箠死，等死耳，否亦且戰死，曷若刺殺此酋以救死。勝則揚帆歸，不勝而見縛，死未晚也。) Pan Hewu is regarded as a hero by Chinese. 66 Spanish were slaughtered by the Chinese and only 14 Spanish survived he massacre.
Pan Hewu beheaded Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas and waved his head at the Spanish crew. Pan Hewu and the Chinese rowers then slaughtered the Spanish crew with their swords and other Spanish drowned while trying to escape. The Chinese then looted the cargo of the Spanish. Gomez's son Luis Pérez Dasmariñas 郎雷貓吝 asked the Ming dynasty for comepnsation for the lives of his father and crew and their cargo.
Spain's plans to invade Moro Muslim lands in Mindanao was derailed and delayed by the Chinese assassination of Gomez Pérez Dasmariñas, and his son Luis Pérez Dasmariñas attempted to organise the invasion again but was derailed again when he lost his position as governor general.

### 1603 revolt

In 1603, three Chinese mandarins arrived in Manila, saying they had been sent by the emperor$^{267}$ to investigate a report of a mountain of gold in Cavite. The Spaniards were distrustful, suspecting these men of coming to spy out the situation and fortifications of the city, and thought that the story of the mountain of gold was merely a ruse for trying to find out how easily Manila could be taken. So alarmed were government officials that after the mandarins left they took measures to improve their defenses. These preparations in turn aroused the suspicions of Chinese residents in Manila, who feared the Spaniards were about to massacre them and rose in revolt. In Tondo and Quiapo they set fire to buildings and massacred natives, since there were few Spaniards in Manila. To put down the revolt, 130 or 150 Spaniards under Luis Dasmariñas marched against the rebels, but were defeated and nearly all killed. Then Chinese rebels stormed Intramuros, the old walled city, but were repulsed and driven to San Pablo del Monte. There they were attacked by a large force of Spaniards and local Tagalogs, and twenty-three thousand of them perished in the fight."
Many Chinese residents fled the country or to the countryside. The Spaniards, fearing a plot began to threaten them.
On the night of October 3, 1603, the Chinese population of Manila, nearly 25,000 in number, rose in revolt. A force of one hundred and fifty men attacked the Chinese residents. All but four of the Spaniards were killed. At dawn, October 5, the rebels attacked the walled city. The fight lasted several days. Every Spaniard, including the friars, armed himself and fought.
Finally the Spaniards, with the aid of some Japanese residents and Pampangos, drove away the Chinese residents, who fled to the mountains of San Pablo. Here a large force of Spaniards and local Tagalogs surrounded and besieged them. Hunger and attacks of the natives, who hated the Chinese residents, caused the death of about 23,000.
Luis Pérez Dasmariñas was the son of Gomez who was killed by the Chinese in 1593. Luis pursued the Chinese Sangley rebels into the swamps with his Spanish men in the 1603 revolt. Luis reportedly said in Spanish "Que le siguiesen, que con veinticinco soldados bastaba para toda la China" telling his men to follow him and claiming 25 men could take on all China. The Chinese Sangley rebels then slaughtered Luis and every single one of his men and beheaded them. It was the Pampangos who put down the Chinese rebellion. The Chinese erected the severed heads of Luis and his men on the stockade of the Parian using pikes.

### 1639 revolt

After the first Sangley Rebellion in 1603, conditions for the Chinese residents in Manila returned to some degree of normalcy for a time. However, as the ethnic Chinese population continued to prosper, they incurred heavier restrictions from the Spanish. Although they were exempt from labour and petty personal dues required of the natives, the Chinese residents had to pay a license fee of 8 pesos per year with additional extortion and harassment from sellers. They were also subject to population control in addition to the license fee, with an idealized limit of 6,000, but in reality the Chinese population in 1620s and 1630s ranged from 15,000 to 21,000. The Chinese residents petitioned the king of Spain for self-government but this was rejected in 1630. As the Chinese population continued to swell, reaching 33,000-45,000 by 1639, they entered other industries such as farming. They were laborers on their own in outlying areas, employed on estates of religious orders, or used as farm labor in forced settlement projects. This large rural Chinese population rebelled again in 1639, resulting in another massacre.
The rebellion of 1639 occurred in rural Luzon where most of the rebels came from. It started at Calamba, where several thousand Chinese residents had been coerced to settle and forced to pay substantial rent to the Spanish. It was a very unhealthy place and about 300 of them had already died by the time of the rebellion on 20 November. The rebels advanced towards Manila and by 22 November, had taken the San Pedro Macati Church on the eastern outskirts of the city. The Chinatown was only briefly occupied by them. Although well-organized, the rebellion was poorly armed and could not stand up to the Spanish and local Tagalog forces, which routed them upon their arrival. However uprisings were reported in other areas as well and from 26 November to 2 December, the Chinese residents controlled the north bank of the Pasig River
On 2 December, the Chinese settlement revolted and started fires. The Spanish began firing on the Chinese rebels from the city walls. On 5 December, the Spanish ordered the execution of any Chinese resident that could be found, with a reward for each Chinese head. The Chinese residents were systematically rounded up and killed ten at a time. In total some 17,000 to 22,000 Chinese residents were slaughtered. Some Chinese residents fled to the mountains but were eventually dislodged. Around 6,000-7,000 Chinese residents held out on the eastern shore of Laguna de Bay until 15 March 1640, when they were surrounded and forced to surrender

### 1662 Sangley massacre

Koxinga resolved to conquer the Philippines and summoned the Italian Dominican missionary Vittorio Riccio, who had been living in Fujian province, and in the spring of 1662 dispatched him as an ambassador to the governor of the Philippines to demand the submission of the archipelago.
Manila was thrown into a terrible panic by this demand; no such danger had threatened the Spanish in the Philippines since the invasion of Limahong. Koxinga of the Kingdom of Tungning had an innumerable army, and their armament, stores, and navy had been greatly augmented by the surrender of the Dutch in Taiwan. Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara however returned a defiant answer to Koxinga and adopted measures to put the colony in a state of defense.
The Moluccas were forsaken and never again recovered by Spaniards. The presidios of Zamboanga and Cuyo were abandoned. Spanish troops were concentrated in Manila, whose fortifications were rebuilt, and the population waited anxiously for the attack. But the blow never fell.
Koxinga turned his attention to the conquest of Formosa, at the time a Dutch possession, where the local residents planned the expulsion of the Dutch with Koxinga's leadership. According to Dutch accounts, European settlers numbered about 600, with a garrison of 2,200. The Dutch artillery, stores and merchandise were valued at $8,000,000, and Koxinga's army, were about 100,000 strong. The settlement surrendered to the invaders' superior numbers, and Koxinga established himself as king of the island under the Kingdom of Tungning. Koxinga had made Riccio a mandarin and sent him as an ambassador to the governor of Spanish Philippines. He arrived in Manila in 1662 bearing Koxinga's despatches calling on the governor to pay tribute under threat of Koxinga attacking the Spanish colony if his demand was refused.
Riccio was received with great honour in Manila, and rode to Government House in the full uniform of a Chinese envoy, through lines of troops drawn up to salute him as he passed. At the same time, the Chinese residents in Manila had received letters from Formosa, and the Spanish authorities accused them of conniving at rebellion. All available forces were concentrated in the capital; and to increase the garrison, the Governor published a decree, dated 6 May 1662, ordering the demolition of the forts of Zamboanga, Yligan (Mindanao), Calamian Islands) and Ternate in the Moluccas. The only provincial fort preserved was that of Surigao (then called Caraga).
The troops in Manila numbered 100 cavalry and 8,000 infantry. Fortifications were raised, and redoubts were constructed in which to secrete treasury funds. When all the armament was in readiness, the Spaniards incited the Chinese residents to rebel, to afford a pretext for their massacre.
Two junk masters were seized, and the Chinese population was menaced; therefore they prepared for their own defence, and then opened the affray, for which the Government was secretly longing, by killing a Spaniard in the marketplace. Suddenly artillery fire opened on the Parian, and many peaceful Chinese traders hanged themselves in their terror; many were drowned in their attempt to reach the canoes and get away to sea; some few did safely arrive in Formosa Island and join Koxinga's camp, whilst others took to the mountains. Some 8,000 to 9,000 Chinese residents remained quiet, but ready. They were suddenly attacked by Spaniards and natives. The confusion was general, and the Chinese residents seemed to be gaining ground, so the governor sent Riccio and a certain Fray Joseph de Madrid to parley with them. The Chinese residents accepted the terms offered by Riccio, who returned to the governor, leaving Fray Joseph with the rebels, but when Riccio went back with a general pardon and a promise to free the two junk masters, he found that the Moro had beheaded the priest. A general carnage followed, and Juan de la Concepcion [es] says that the original intention of the Spaniards was to kill all the Chinese residents, but they desisted in view of the inconvenience that would have ensued from the lack of tradesmen and mechanics. Therefore, they made a virtue of a necessity, and graciously pardoned in the name of His Catholic Majesty all who laid down their arms.
The Molucca Islands were definitely evacuated and abandoned by the Spaniards, although as many men and as much material and money had been employed in garrisons and conveyance of subsidies there as for the whole Philippine colony up to that time.

### 1686 rebellion plot

The Spanish constable in the Parian ghetto was killed by Chinese on 28 May 1686 and the Spanish governor was also targeted.

### 1750s expulsions

When the Chinese residents were expelled from Manila in 1758, many of them went to Joló, where some 4,000 lived at the time of Cencelly's expedition; they sided with the natives of Jolo (Tausug Moros) against the Spaniards, and organized an armed troop to fight them.
Pagan pure Han Chinese residents were expelled from Manila in 1755 and 1766, leaving only Catholic Chinese mestizo residents behind. Chinese mestizos made up a huge fraction of the Philippine population and took over the retail trade from pure Chinese residents.

#### Effects of Koxinga's threat on Moro raids against Spanish and loss of Maluku

In 1662, Koxinga's Chinese forces raided several towns in the Philippines and demanded tribute from the Spanish colonial government, threatening to attack Manila if his demands were not met. The Spanish refused to pay the tribute and reinforced the garrisons around Manila, but the planned attack never took place due to Koxinga's sudden death in that year after expelling the Dutch on Taiwan.
Koxinga's threat to invade the Philippines and expel the Spanish resulted in the Spanish failure to conquer the Islamic Moro people in Mindanao. The threat of Chinese invasion forced the Spanish to halt their conquest of the Moros and withdraw their garrisons to Manila. Koxinga's death resulted in the invasion being canceled. The Spanish retreated occurred in 1663. Zamboanga and Mindanao became devoid of Spanish soldiers after the Chinese threat against Manila. The Chinese threat effectively destroyed the Spanish plan to conquer and colonize the Moros in Zamboanga. Governor Bobadilla was the one who conducted the evacuation. Mindanao was just about to be colonized by Christians before Koxinga's planned conquest of the Philippines destroyed the entire Spanish plan to conquer Mindanao. Iligan and Zamboanga were given up by the Spanish.
Throughout 1656, 1657, 1660, and 1662, the Moros attacked and pillaged towns on Spanish-controlled islands, sailing around the area in order to raid. They defeated Spanish attempts to take the fort of Sultan Kudarat. The Spanish had been on the verge of victory over the Moros, before Koxinga's threat and the subsequent Chinese rebellion against the Spanish resulted in the Spanish forces fleeing from the battle with the Moros to defend Manila against the Chinese. The Spanish Governor General Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera brought soldiers from Peru and Mexico and had defeated the Moro Sultan Kudarat and built forts in Moro territory in Zamboanga, reversing previous Moro successes. The people of Manila were celebrating the victories of the Spanish. Koxinga's threat to the Spanish led to Spanish troops in Moro land being withdrawn by Governor Sebastian Manrique de Lara. After this, the Moros essentially had a free rein to attack the Spanish. Zamboanga became devoid of Spanish as they fled to Luzon to defend against the threatened invasion.
The Spanish and the Moros had signed the Jolo treaty to stop hostilities decades before renewed Spanish-Moro hostilities during Koxinga's planned invasion.
Despite the Jolo treaty, the Jolo datu, Salicala, and a datu from Borneo ravaged the Visayan coast. The force of the latter was defeated by Monforte near Masbate, and Salicala returned to Jolo. Monforte destroyed several towns and 300 boats in Borneo. In 1655,trouble again broke out between Corralat (Kudarat) and the Spanish forces, the Moros sacking numerous towns in the Calamianes and one town near Zamboanga. In 1656 a fleet dispatched by De Sara, the new captain-general, burned Corralat's town and some Moro towns in Sibuguey Bay, destroying also a Dutch fleet allied with the Moros. The Moros at the same time were ravaging the coasts of Mindoro and Marinduque, and succeeded also in repulsing the attack on the fort at Corralat (this may refer to Cotabato, the homeland of Sultan Kudarat), forcing the Spaniards to return to Sabonilla and Zamboanga. In 1657 Salicala scoured the Philippine seas, capturing over 1,000 native prisoners, entering the Bay of Manila during the raid. In 1660 Moros from Jolo and Tawi-Tawi, taking advantage of an insurrection in Luzon, raided the costs of Bohol, Leyte, and Mindoro.
In 1662, a Chinese rebellion embarrassed the Spaniards, and at this time several datus from the Jolo and Tawi-Tawi islands sacked and burned a great many towns in the Visayas. Following these inroads, Bobadilla, governor of Zamboanga, was ordered to evacuate that station, which was done in January 1663.
For the next half century Moro raids on the Mindanao and Visayan settlements marked each year, and many fights were chronicled between the fleets of praus and the Spanish fleet known as the "Armada de los Pintados". The Jesuits had endeavored in 1666 and 1672 to have the fort of Zamboanga rebuilt, but it was not until 1712 that the Spanish king ordered its reestablishment, and even then the project was not realized until 1718,
While Governor-General Lara was in office another Chinese invasion threatened. A Chinese chieftain named Koxinga, who had been driven forth from his own country by the Tartars, was the leader of it. When the Tartars overran China, about the middle of the seventeenth century, Koxinga and many of his followers refused to submit. They went to Formosa, drove out the Dutch people, and settled there. Later Koxinga laid a plan to take the Philippine Islands and set up his kingdom there.
Koxinga's chief adviser was an Italian friar named Riccio. This friar he had appointed a high mandarin, or nobleman. He now sent him to Manila, dressed in the garb of his office, to demand tribute from the Philippine government.
Naturally this demand caused amazement and alarm in Manila. The Spaniards were aghast at the idea of a Catholic priest demanding tribute from a Catholic country, in the name of a heathen ruler. Later the authorities at Rome called the friar to account for his conduct. At this time, however, the Spanish were at a loss how to act. They did not dare send the priest-mandarin away, nor could they give him any answer. They therefore kept him waiting in Manila while they made up their minds what to do.
As was usual, when trouble arose, the government thought that the Chinese in Manila were plotting to take the city. They felt sure that these men would be ready to help Koxinga when he came, so everything was made ready for another attack upon the Chinese in Luzon.
All government troops, both Spanish and native, were collected at Manila. So great was the fear, that three important forts were torn down, and the soldiers stationed there were brought to Luzon. Only the fort at Caraga, Mindanao, was left standing. This one they did not dare to give up; the soldiers there were all that kept the Moros from destroying the settlements on that coast.
A massacre of the Chinese by the Spanish and local Tagalogs followed during the rebellion. About 5,000 Chinese remained in Manila after the rebellion and massacre.
After peace was made, Riccio was allowed to return to Formosa, to inform Koxinga what had been done. He found the chieftain getting ready to come to Manila with an army to take the country, and Riccio told him what had happened.
Koxinga's rage was great when he heard his mandarin's story. He planned to go at once to the islands to punish this wicked cruelty to his countrymen. He fell ill, however, and died of fever before he could start. Thus Manila escaped the fate that must almost surely have fallen upon the city if the Chinese chief and his great army had reached the bay.
The foolish attack upon the Chinese took so many Spanish soldiers from the southern islands that the Moros now had free swing along the coasts of Mindanao and the Visayas.
Exalted by his success against European arms, Koxinga resolved upon the conquest of the Philippines. He summoned to his service the Italian Dominican missionary, Ricci, who had been living in the province of Fukien, and in the spring of 1662 dispatched him as an ambassador to the governor of the Philippines to demand the submission of the archipelago.
Manila was thrown into a terrible panic by this demand, and indeed no such danger had threatened the Spanish in the Philippines since the invasion of Limahong. The Chinese conqueror had an innumerable army, and his armament, stores, and navy had been greatly augmented by the surrender of the Dutch.
After Koxinga's ultimatum, the Spanish proceeded to order all Chinese to leave the Philippines. The Chinese suspected that the Spanish planned to massacre them, so the Chinese rebelled and assaulted Manila to fight the Spanish and local Tagalogs. The Chinese either died in battle or, escaping by frail boats, joined the Chinese colonists on Formosa. The Spanish razed their own churches and convents in Manila to prevent Chinese from taking shelter in them.
"During this period the raids of the Moros continued. These pirates did much damage. This led to efforts on the part of Spain to conquer these warlike people, which resulted in the conquest of Jolo and the establishment of a stronghold at Zamboanga. In 1662, Koxinga, a Chinese pirate, demanded the surrender of Manila. This danger was so great that the Spaniards concentrated all their efforts to resist the threatened invasions and abandoned some of their strongholds in the south. The Chinese in Manila were suspected of being in the plot. They assaulted Manila but many were slain and the remainder left the city. The threatened invasion never was carried out for Koxinga died. The effects of the events cited above left Spanish prestige at a low ebb. Manila was no longer the principal commercial centre of the East and never again recovered that position. The century that followed from 1663–1762 has been described as one of obscurity for the Philippines."
"Another event of importance during the seventeenth century resulted from the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty in China by the Manchus. During the change of power and consequent disorders there, a Chinese adventurer, Koxinga, raised a pirate army in south China and drove the Dutch out of Formosa. He then sent an ambassador to Manila demanding the surrender of the Islands to him. The colony was weak and unprepared for defense, and consequently terrified. There were twenty-five thousand Chinese living in Pari-an, north of the Pasig River, in Manila. Fearful lest these Chinese cooperate in the designs of Koxinga, they were all ordered to leave the Islands. Unable to do so at once, and fearful of massacre, they arose in rebellion and assaulted the city of Manila. The result was a terrible massacre, which cost the lives of twenty-two thousand of the Chinese; the remaining three thousand built frail boats and fled to Formosa. The death of Koxinga occurred before his expedition reached the Philippines."
Koxinga's threat to Spain effectively destroyed the Spanish plan to colonize and conquer Molo territory in Mindanao. It was only in 1718 when they came back to the fort which they evacuated. Mindanao was all Moro after the Spanish left. The Sulu Sultanate was also saved due to Koxinga, the Span ish had left La Caldera Fort.
In 1662, a Chinese rebellion embarrassed the Spaniards, and at this time several datus from the Jolo and Tawi-Tawi islands sacked and burned a great many towns in the Visayas. Following these inroads, Bobadilla, governor of Zamboanga, was ordered to evacuate that station, which was done in January, 1663.
For three centuries, intermittent poor attempts were made by the Spaniards to destroy the homes of tihe Moro pirates, who, almost without exception, raided the Spanish colonies throughout the Philippine Islands, south of Luzon, and even occasionally on that island. Many reverses and some successes were met with by the Spanish expeditions against the JoJo ami Mindanao Moros. The names of some of the Spanish Captains-General who figured in these conflicts, and of the Moro chiefs, would convey no significance to those English-speaking people who have not, during the last six or seven years, participated in Moro campaigns. In 1637 Corcuero inaugurated a new conquest of Jolo and of Mindanao. His force consisted of 76b Europeans. He made a landing at Jolo. The following year, he landed at Zamboanga and proceeded past Cattobats up the Rio Grande against the Datu Corralat and the Datus of Buhayen and Basilan. The following year, Corcuero and Almonte built a fort at Sabonflla, now called Malabang, on Plana Bay. During 1639, Spanish soldiers and priests, under the warlike Recoleto friar, Augustin de San Pedro, led a party of 560 against the Lanao Moros, where Camps Vicars and Keithley now stand. In 1642, Generals Corcuero and Almonte made peace with Corralat, but piratical depredations by the Moros continued; Chinese rebellions embarrassed the Spaniards, who evacuated manv places, and many fights were chronicled between the Moro fleets of Praus and the Spanish fleets.
Koxinga's son did not take up the task of invading the Philippines after Koxinga's death.

### Zheng Jing forces Spain to pay tribute under threat of invasion

Governor Manuel de León admitted the Spanish in the Philippines were weaker than the Chinese Tungning forces in Taiwan, saying "these provinces [the Philippines] are in no state to be complaining to the neighboring kings, with the ease with which they move to any altercation." in a letter to the Queen regent of Austria, Mariana. Manuel de León also said that Spain needed to pay tribute to the Chinese in Tungning for the safety of the Spanish Philippines. The Spanish Philippines paid tribute to the Kingdom of Tungning with masts and rudders (shipbuilding materials) under threat of Zheng Jing invading them.
The English and Dutch East India companies both said Zheng Jing would have won if he launched his invasion against the Spanish Philippines in 1671 as planned, after reviewing the weak state of Spanish defences.

### 1770s conflicts

The Sulu kingdoms were tributaries to the Ming Dynasty and one Sulu king died in China during a tribute mission. After Spanish persecution against Chinese residents in Luzon, thousands of Chinese residents fled to Sulu, and Sulu's Sultan Israel (1773–1778) was backed by 4,000 Chinese residents against the Spanish. Chinese residents participated in events in Sulu's war against western colonialists, such as the 5 March 1775 attack against the Balambagan British outpost led by Chinese merchant Datu Teteng. In the negotiations leading up to the 19 December 1726 treaty between Spain and Sulu, Sulu's representative was the Chinese Ki Kuan. Many Chinese residents assimilated into Tausug-Sama people and Chinese surnames are found among them. An Englishman named Brun joined the Jolo Moros under Datto Tetenz with 4,000 Chinese residents expelled from Manila by the British, and ravaged Cebu, harassing the coast. "In 1642 Generals Corcuero and Almonte made peace with Corralat, but piratical depredations by the Moros continued; Chinese rebellions embarrassed the Spaniards, who evacuated many places, and many fights were chronicled between the Moro fleets of Praus and the Spanish fleets. The priests egged on the Spanish, and the Spanish King re-established, and then abandoned, many stations in Mindoro, Basilan Mindanao and Jolo. Treaties were made and unmade. Expeditions intended to be punitive were undertaken. The Tawi-Tawi Moros nearly captured Zamboanga. Engagements were constant with varying success until 1737. King Philip V. of Spain, pestered the Sultans of Jolo and Tomantaca (Mindanao) about not being Christians, but expeditions were as frequent as baptisms."
Anda took what precautions were available to restrain the Moro pirates, but great difficulties arose. Ali-Mudin, whom the English had restored to his sway in Joló, and his son Israel (in whose favor the father abdicated) were friendly to the Spaniards, with many of their dattos; but another faction, led by Zalicaya, the commander of the Joloan armadas, favored the English, who had established themselves in 1762 on Balambangan in the Joló archipelago, which they had induced Bantilan to grant them. The English were accused of trying to incite the Joloans against the Spaniards by intrigue and bribery.
Anda sent an expedition to protest to the English their occupation of this Spanish territory, and entrusted this mission to an Italian officer named Giovanni Cencelly, who was then in command of one of the infantry regiments stationed at Manila; the latter sailed from Zamboanga December 30, 1773, bearing careful instructions to avoid any hostilities with the English and maintain friendship with the Joloans. But Cencelly seems to have been quite destitute of tact or judgment, and even of loyalty to his governor; for he disobeyed his instructions and angered the Joloans, who could hardly be restrained by Ali-Mudin from massacring the Spaniards, and at the end of three weeks was obliged to return to Zamboanga. He was on bad terms with the commandant there, Raimundo Español, and refused him any account of his proceedings at Joló. He even tried to stir up sedition among the Spanish troops against Español. The English gladly availed themselves of this opportunity to strengthen their own position in Joló, stirring up the islanders against Spain and erecting new forts. Later, however, the English at Balambangan showed so much harshness and contempt for the Moro dattos (even putting one in the pillory) that the latter plotted to surprise and kill the intruders; and on March 5, 1775, did so, killing all the English being except the commandant and five others, who managed to escape to their ship in the harbor.
The Moros seized the fort, thus acquiring great quantities of military supplies, arms, money, and food, along with several vessels. Among these spoils were forty-five cannons and $24,000 in silver. Elated by this success, Tenteng, the chief mover of the enterprise, tried to secure Zamboanga the same way; but the new commandant there, Juan Bayot, was on his guard, and the Moros did not succeed. Teteng then went to Cebú, where he committed horrible ravages. Other raids of this sort were carried out, and for a long time the Spaniards were unable to check them. A letter written to the king by Anda in 1773 had asked for money to build light armed vessels, and a royal order of January 27, 1776, commanded that 50,000 pesos be sent to Filipinas for this purpose. This money was used by Anda's temporary successor, Pedro Sarrio, for the construction of a squadron of vintas, "vessels which, on account of their swiftness and exceedingly light draft, were more suitable for the pursuit of the pirates than the very heavy galleys; they were, besides, to carry pilots of the royal fleet to reconnoiter the coasts, draw plans of the ports, indicate the shoals and reefs, take soundings in the sea, etc." "The Datos at once feared the vengeance of the English, and declared Tenteng unworthy of the rights of a Joloan and an outlaw from the kingdom with all his followers. Sultan Israel wrote to the governor of Zamboanga, assuring him that neither he nor the Datos had taken part in this transgression; and he asked the governor to send him the Curia filipica and the Empresas políticas of Saavedra, in order that he might be able to answer the charges which the English would make against him. (He had studied at the college of San José in Manila.)" Tenteng repaired to Joló with his booty and the captured English vessel; "these were arguments in his favor so convincing that he was at once admitted." He surrendered to the sultan all the military supplies and $2,000 in cash, and divided the spoils with the other datos; they received him with the utmost enthusiasm, and raised the ban from his head. "Around 1803, the squadron of General Alava returned to the Peninsula, the English again took possession of the island of Balanbangan; and it appears that they made endeavors to establish themselves in Joló, and were instigating the sultan and datos to go out and plunder the Visayas, telling the Joloans that they themselves only cared to seize Manila and the Acapulko galleon.