Beijing has set its “predatory” eyes on Australia’s wealth and land, the former head of British intelligence service MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, has warned. Dearlove, who ran the spy agency from 1999 to 2004, said Australia’s untapped wealth and resources were very attractive to the Beijing. “China is eyeing this continent in a very, I think, predatory fashion,” Dearlove said on the One Decision podcast on Feb. 14. “And [China] has paid, when we weren’t really paying attention ourselves, huge attention strategically and politically, to Australia.” What makes Australia so strategically significant, he said, was its geographic location, resource-rich lands, and also its valuable contribution to the western world’s intelligence capabilities via Australia’s expertise in monitoring and intercepting the communications of countries like China and Russia. Dearlove said Australians were not solely reliant on U.S. intelligence services and had developed their own “sophisticated” intelligence service in the security community. “So it’s …