(TibetanReview.net, Feb09’25) – Gyalo Thondup, the middle of the Dalai Lama’s three elder brothers, and his key interlocutor with Beijing right since 1950, is no more. He passed away on Feb 8 at his home in Kalimpong, India, aged 97 years old.
Born at Taktser Village in the eastern Tibetan province of Amdo, the birthplace also of the Dalai Lama, he was sent to China in 1944 at 14 years of age to study and understand the country better. The purpose was to prepare him to serve the Tibetan government at a time when the neighbouring giant was on the cusp of revolutionary changes, according to a video-interview Gyalo Thondup gave to former Namgyal Monastery monk Losang Samten in 1992.
However, his study was cut short when the communists overthrew the Kuomintang government of China in 1949 and he travelled to India, where he became the key contact person for Tibet from the governments of India, communist China, and Kuomintang-ruled Taiwan.
His Memoir, The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong (co-authored with Anne F Thurston) tells the story of his interlocutory involvements as well as his initiatives on a wide-range of pivotal Tibetan issues over the next several decades.
These included helping His Holiness in the establishment of the Tibetan government in exile, undertaking a series of trips to China on his behalf in moves to resolve the issue of Tibet, the establishment of the CIA-sponsored Tibetan resistance against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, and bringing the Tibet issue before the United Nations General Assembly, which led to three resolutions in 1959, 1961 and 1965.
He was directly involved in running the Tibetan government in exile, especially in handling its foreign relations, until 1969. He returned to lead the exile government in 1992 as the Kalon Tripa (chair of the cabinet) upon being elected to the post.
Following his Mar 12, 1979 meeting with Deng Xiaoping, Gyalo Thondup famously said the paramount leader of China told him that “apart from independence, all issues can be discussed”. He also said Deng suggested that the Dalai Lama send people to investigate the situation in Tibet, contending, “it is better to see with one’s own eyes than to hear something a hundred times from other people”.
And so his series of meetings with top Chinese leaders led to Tibetans in Tibet and in exile being allowed to undertake family visits and pilgrimages, enabled the Dalai Lama to dispatch four fact-finding and other types of delegations to Tibet and China over the next several years, including a visit by Gyalo Thondup himself in May 1987 too, reopening contact after a two-year freeze.
Lodi Gyari, the Dalai’s special envoy to China for 10 rounds of talks over 2001-2010, has said in his posthumously published memoir: “It is beyond dispute that Gyalo Thondup dedicated his entire life to advancing Tibet’s interests, seeking to work with any person, group, or government that might help, including the KMT, Communists, Americans, Indians, and even the Russians at one point, all because of his profound commitment to the cause.”
Those 10 rounds of talks became possible following a visit to Beijing by Gyalo Thondup in late Oct 2001, following a nine-year impasse in dialogue between the two sides.
Though these talks have yielded no final positive results – with the last round having ended in acrimony – Gyalo Thondup refused to give up hope. “Yes, there has been no result [from the current round of dialogue since 2002], but even if there is no result, we are not going to lose hope. Things are changing, the world is changing. … China is changing, the world is changing. I’m quite optimistic,” Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet quoted him as having said in 2008.
Gyalo Thondup also said in his 1992 interview cited earlier above: “We should plan and prepare to act with a long-term vision, not just for tomorrow and the near future, and with awareness that we do not know what changes might occur even tomorrow.”
One of six siblings of the Dalai Lama, Gyalo Thondup is survived by his sons Ngawang Tanpa Thondup, Khedroob Thondup and their families. In addition to the Dalai Lama, his other surviving siblings are younger sister Jetsun Pema and youngest brother Tendzin Choegyal, having been predeceased by his wife Diki Dolkar (Zhu Dan) and daughter Yangzom Doma.