The older brother of the Dalai Lama will visit Tibet for the first time in 50 years tomorrow, according to Radio Free Asia. Gyalo Thondup left Hong Kong yesterday for Beijing and is due to visit the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, until July 12. The report did not say why Mr Thondup stopped in the SAR, but sources said he had been the main representative in talks with China through a Tibetan liaison officer in Hong Kong. Quoting anonymous sources, the report said Mr Thondup would also visit his native western Amdo prefecture - now Qinghai province - and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region during his three-month trip. Mr Thondup hoped for 'frank talks with the Chinese and Tibetan authorities about China's often heavy-handed treatment of the Himalayan territory', according to the report. No further explanation of the trip was given. Mr Thondup, based in northern India, has acted as the Dalai Lama's envoy since 1979 and has visited Beijing many times. Thierry Dodin, director of the London-based Tibet Information Network, said the trip demonstrated the high degree of trust mainland officials had in Mr Thondup. News of the high-profile visit follows the release of several Tibetan dissidents by Beijing this year. But Mr Dodin said it was too early to assume Beijing was adjusting its Tibet policies. A spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India, said it had no knowledge of the trip.
