In 1949, before the
Communist revolution of that year in China, Thondup left Nanjing for Tibet with his wife, who became known by the Tibetan name Diki Dolkar. in subsequent decades, Thondup traveled between New Delhi, Taipei, Washington, Hong Kong, and Beijing as an unofficial envoy.
Involvement with the Republic of China (ROC) According to his personal memoir, Thondup was personally sponsored by Chiang Kai-shek to be a special student in one of Nanjing's top universities. After first meeting them in May 1946, he visited the Chiangs' home frequently, describing him and his wife
Soong Meiling as "unfailingly warm and gracious hosts" who paid for all his expenses and treated him "as a son". Both Gyalo and his wife Zhu Dan (who had spent her time at a local Baptist hospital working with children and refugees traumatized after the
Second Sino-Japanese War) left Nanjing in March 1949 as the mainland fell to the Communists.
United States activities In 1951, he traveled to America and became the main source of information on Tibet for the
United States Department of State. The
Central Intelligence Agency promised to
make Tibet independent from China in exchange for Thondup's support in organizing guerrilla units to fight against the
People's Liberation Army, an offer that Thondup accepted. Thondup helped to recruit approximately 300 fighters to be trained at
Camp Hale, Colorado, who in turn trained thousands of others in the Tibetan resistance. Thondup maintained that he did not inform the
14th Dalai Lama about the CIA's actions, out of respect for his pacifist stance. To his disappointment, US support ended after the
1972 Nixon visit to China. In recent years, Thondup urged Tibetans to remain politically engaged, repeatedly stating that dialogue was the only way to achieve progress with China. In 1998, the
Central Tibetan Administration in exile criticized Thondup for not letting the Dalai Lama know about the
CIA's involvement in Tibet. ==Personal life and death==