Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 8: Gyalo Thondup, the elder brother of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and a well-known figure in Tibetan political affairs for decades, passed away this evening at around 5:40 PM at the age of 97 in India.
Born in 1928 in the Amdo region of Tibet, Gyalo Thondup was a central figure in Tibet’s modern history. He was instrumental in liaising with global powers and was widely known for his role in facilitating U.S. support for the Tibetan resistance movement, particularly through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which trained Tibetan guerrilla fighters. His memoir, The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong, offers a rare insider’s perspective on Tibet’s political struggles and his involvement in them.
On March 12, 1979, Thondup met with Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping for political discussions, during which Deng reportedly stated, “except independence, all other issues can be settled through discussions.” However, following the eighth round of talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and China, Beijing denied Deng had ever made such a statement. Thondup expressed shock at China’s attempt to refute the remark and later dismissed the dialogues as futile, leading to their formal conclusion in 1993.
Despite this, he remained a steadfast advocate for dialogue as the only viable path to resolving Tibet’s conflict with China and has expressed deep concern about the lack of progress in the dialogues. He has consistently emphasised the need for Tibetans to maintain engagement with the Chinese people and recognised the geopolitical realities of Tibet’s position between China and India. “As a Tibetan, I’m convinced that we must all live together. Therefore, it is very important for the Tibetan people not to lose hope and to keep a good relationship with people in China. We must face the reality that we have to deal with China. The people of China will eventually realise that what we are asking is legitimate,” he once remarked.
Thondup also played an influential role within the exile Tibetan government, officially known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). As a former Kalon Tripa (Prime Minister), he worked closely with the administration, advising on Sino-Indian relations and Tibet’s international strategy. Even after stepping away from active political engagement, he remained involved in discussions on Tibet’s future. In 2017, he met with the members of the 15th Cabinet (Kashag), emphasising the importance of strengthening ties with India and adapting Tibet’s approach to the evolving global landscape regarding China. Reports indicate that he had inquired how he could continue to be of service to the Kashag, the Tibetan cause, and his people.
Details regarding his funeral and final rites are yet to be announced by his family and the Tibetan leadership in exile.
As Tibetans around the world mourn his passing, many remember Gyalo Thondup as a pivotal figure in Tibet’s modern history—one who dedicated his life to securing a better future for his people. His legacy will remain an integral part of the Tibetan exile community’s history, shaping discussions on diplomacy, resistance, and the future of Tibet, observers say.
5 Responses
Sad to know this news. My prayers for peace to GT la and for his rebirth as a strong fighter for Tibet’s freedom. I especially liked his role as a CHU-GANG fighter. Om SHANTI OM!!! –
I had the privilege of meeting Kugno Gyalo Thondup La a few times, and I was extremely impressed with his knowledge of international affairs. I did my MA degree in international relations, and I had the good fortune to study under the tutorship of Professor Hans Morganthau, the dean of the International Relations. Now for Tibet and Tibetan cause, Kungo’s contributions were immeasurable: with help of CIA, training Tibetans in Colorado and dropping them inside Tibet to fight the Chinese military and also establishment of 22 in Dehradun. He also established the offices of Tibet in New York and other capitals in the world. In 1972, before President Nixon’s visit to China, Beijing demanded that the Office of Tibet in New York to be closed. Kissenger asked Kungo to close the office of Tibet in New York, but Kungo said that the Office was legally registered as an agent for His Holiness the Dalai Lama with the US Justice Department and he has no intention to close it. That office of Tibet is still functioning in Washington, DC. My heartfelt gratitude and thanks to his invaluable services to Tibet and Tibetans. My heartfelt condolence and prayers to his surviving family members.
The Noodlemaker of Kalimpong was a very riveting autobiography. There are many other people across the globe facing issues similar to Tibet that can take a few lessons from the incredibly difficult position of dealing with a more powerful counterpart with substantially more resources. The story of Tibet is very much the story of people who’s cultures and freedom are taken away to pave the road for “economic development” across the globe without any thought of the effects on the local people. The Chinese by no means have a monopoly on that sort of shabby behavior.
Kasur Gyalo Dhondup was a dedicated patriot! Being the Dalai Lama’s brother, he was courted by Changkaishek,Pandit Nehru and the American CIA. Chankaishek particularly took a liking of him and gave him expenses and made sure he was taken care of. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side of the political class of the Tibetan Government in Lhasa. The Lhasa Tibetan Government was at pains to remain neutral between the two warring factions in China’s civil war. That was just one of the reasons given by the Tibetan Government for expelling all the officials of the Kumintang. The main reason was the re-assertion of Tibet’s independence after the fall of Manchu empire in 1910. Tibet wanted to announce to the world, that the Priest-Patron relationship between the two countries was terminated for good. It must be noted that the priest-patron relationship was purely a spiritual friendship between the Mongols Kublai Khan and Sakya Lama Choegyal Phakpa in the 13th century and later between the Manchu emperors and the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. IT ENTAILED NO SUBORDINATION TO EACH OTHER NOR IT WAS A PROTECTORATE RELATIONSHIP. The Chinese communists distorted this relationship as being a “protectorate relationship” in order to make baseless claims. If there ever was a protectorate status, it would be the Lama who is the protector and NOT the other way round! This must be understood in order to dispel any notion of Chinese distortion to suit their evil design. Regent རྒྱལ་ཚབ་ Reting Rinpoche abrogated his position after few years after the demise of the 13th Dalai Lama and handed to Tatrak Rinpoche under the pretext of going in retreat for three years. When Tatrak Rinpoche failed to return the reigns of power back to Reting after completion of the retreat, Reting is believed to have sought the help of the Kumintang. This was seen as treasonous and he was imprisoned! Reting Rinpoche died in prison! Gyalo Dhondup was therefore sent by the Regent Reting to Nanjing to study Chinese. There is no history of Tibetan Government ever sending Tibetan children to China. The Tibetan Government under the Leadership of the 13th Dalai Lama sent four boys to Rugby School in England. Most of the nobility sent their children to India at Mount Hermans, Loretta College or North point for college in Darjeeling. Owing to this incongruent situation, the Tibetan Government was both suspicious and worrisome about Gyalo Dhondup. They feared that the Tibetan Government was taking sides between the communists and Kumintang which was the last thing Tibet wanted at these uncertain times. Gyalo Dhondup married a Chinese lady and that would have further exacerbated the suspicion. Gyalo it seems had no love lost for the Tibetan nobility and in fact suspecting them of having poisoned his father! Even though the Tibetan Government wanted him to return to Tibet, he instead went to Taiwan after China was lost to communism. However, it made his journey to India much easier where Pandit Nehru wanted to see him. As the Chinese communists occupied Tibet, the US was fearful of the spread of communism in the Asian continent. They were intent to recruit Tibetans to both monitor what the Chinese are up-to in Tibet and how they can best prevent the spread communism. The remnants of the Tibetan freedom fighters in Tibet known as Tensung Dhanglang Makmi (བསྟན་བསྲུང་དྭངས་བླངས་དམག་མི་) finally settled down in Mustang in Northern Nepal, the CIA supported them with arms and ammunition through Gyalo’s mediation. The CIA approached Gyalo Dhondup on another secret mission of recruiting Tibetans for the cause of America as well as India. The Indians were reluctant but they changed their mind after the Chinese invasion of India (1962) did India accept the idea of a covert force mainly to collect intelligence from Chinese in occupied Tibet. Gyalo Dhondup was instrumental in recruiting 6000 Tibetan fighters in a short period of time. With this began Establishment 22 or (Special Frontier Force) with the blessing of Pandit Nehru, General Susan Singh Uban and Gyalo Dhondup as the interlocutor between CIA, India’s external spy regime RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), the Tibetan Special Frontier Force was established on 14th November 1962. The rest is history. As the Dalai Lama said today who was attending a puja in South India for his brother, “Gyalo Dhondup did his best. In future may he be born to continue the work that he dedicated his life”. He was a man who wanted to see results and did not like complacency. This streak has let to divisions between the freedom fighters in Mustang, namely between Bawa Yeshe and his followers and Gyalo Dhondup’s own supporters which ultimately was the undoing of the organisation known as Lo-Diktsuk གློ་བསྒྲིག་འཛུགས་ Once, king Birendra of Nepal ascended the throne in 1972, the Chinese asked him to disband the freedom fighters. The Dalai Lama sent a recorded message for the fighters through the late སྐུ་སྲུང་མདའ་དཔོན་to lay down their arms. Most of them did but few resented. One called Pachen committed suicide after surrendering his weapon, while Gyaton Wangdu and group headed towards India. The Chinese were blocking access to occupied Tibet while the Nepalese in a show of force sent 3000 troops to ambush them. Wangdu and his men fought and died. That was the end of the last Tibetan armed struggle against communist Chinese occupation of Tibet. Gyalo Dhondup was involved in all these campaigns and manoeuvres against the occupiers of Tibet.
It is very sad and big loss for the Tibetan people . Because of his whole life struggles for the Tibetan freedom. I truly admire and very respectful to his thoughts of long term benefit for the Tibetan people. Of course, he is an elder brother of HH the Dalai Lama and I believe he’s not a normal person, he’s smart, brave and very kind person. He left a very important legacies in our Tibetan history. Inclusion, May he reborn in land of chenrezig and to fulfill his commitments for the Tibetan people. ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུཾ། ????????????