Australia’s Pine Gap ‘hugely important’ to western monitoring of China, says former British spy chief

Former director of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove describes Australia’s Pine Gap surveillance facility as ‘hugely important strategically to the US and to the western alliance’ in monitoring China. Photograph: David Hartley/REX/Shutterstock

The former British spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove has described the Pine Gap surveillance base in central Australia as “hugely important” to western intelligence collection about China’s “rather alarming” activities.

Intelligence officials are usually tight-lipped on exactly what the joint US-Australian facility is used for, but the former head of MI6 said Pine Gap was “a sophisticated listening post, all right, and a lot else besides”.