No doubt. If China had done this, the USA would be at the brink of war right now. They would be 'terrorists', or 'information terrorists' or something bizarre for undermining the 'international government'.
> And because the US didn't do exactly the same for similar Chinese projects.
That is irrelevant, I answered to a message in context, and that context was "if china did the hacking, US would be on the brink of war".
Which is why I pointed out that the US mostly had no real reaction when China did hack twice not just some UN politician emails, but the biggest military project of the US, one meant to replace pretty much every other fighter planes they have except the f22 for the foreseeable future.
So if they did not do anything about that, no, they would not be on the brink of war over a Chinese hack of the UN. But I'm sure they would write a strongly worded letter.
The US is supposed to be an ally of many, if not the majority, of UN members. China is not. So from, say a Spanish POV, China, not regarded as an ally, spying is expected, but an ally industrially spying is more difficult to accept. In fact, something like this may well destabilize the UN. How can such an institution be trusted if its major player and funder is using it as its own conduit for spying? Yeah "we" all "knew", not now we really do know. Its fact.
What this proves is that the US is an ally of no one. The US has abused it's self entitled presumed position of trust. Now when there is some international jolly, or what ever, US requests for insane amounts of comic book, sunglasses wearing, gun toting SS to be allowed free armed reign may well be met with a lot more skepticism. The usual suspects will continue to suck up (the UK for example has no where else to turn to, given its attitude to the EU), but over all I see a lot more difficulty for the US behind the scenes and diplomatically.
In short, there is a huge difference between an enemy spying and a so called ally.
Allies spy on each other all the time. Alliances are simple two dimension structures, counties align themselves will all sorts of interests that sometimes seem contradictory. Look at the Israelis for example, they spy on the US. But they clearly benefit from the US's support. nevertheless, it makes sense for them to spy on the US, first they need to know what the US really thinks to protect their interests (the US isnt always publicly stating its true ntetions) and sometimes the US may have intel the Israelis do not). thats just one example of allies spying.
In general terms, any intelligent government is going to want to know what's happening in the world to its interests because people, and countries, lie and withhold information. So in general terms, everyone spies on everyone.
Who is your ally in one matter may not be in another. For example, China is neither an ally nor an enemy to the US. US Sino relations are complicated, sometimes the two agree and work together, sometimes they do not. If two countries cooperate on some things, but not others should they blindly trust each other? Of course not. What if they mostly agree? Should they still blindly trust each other? I would hope not. Again, consider how allies sometimes to lie to each other to get them to support their cherished positions. Nations have a duty to their citizens, and shouldn't blindly follow their allies statements of so-called fact. How else does a nation meet this duty if it doesn't cast a wary eye on its allies? It spies on them.
Equally, sometimes traditional allies are opposed on certain things, or may be lying as the Greeks were about their national finances. Im sure the EU wishes it knew that earlier.
The word ally isn't the same thing as "always on my side". These are nations we're talking about, that operate in their own interests, lie to each other and dont always operate in their friends interests. It seems reasonable for allies to be a bit wary of each other and to not assume allies will just always act in their allies best interests. And alas, spy on each other find out what's really going on.
China is the scapegoat when it comes to hacking. Just as China is mentioned the interest just dies - since it's expected of them (the article even mentions Chine trying the same thing...).
That's because after all the headlines about the Chinese doing this, nobody cares about that any more. But the U.S. made such a brouhaha about the Chinese doing it that when it turns out they were doing the same - but to a far greater scale, it turns out that there's one rule for the U.S. (which is "the rules don't apply to us"), and one rule for everyone else (which is "the rules still apply to all you lot, because it's our playground, and we make the rules").
Besides, this will blow over just as quickly as it blew up just like everything else did/does in the U.S. - the president will do something dumb that everyone can get up in arms about, like cheating on his wife with a pretty white intern who strips on the side to "pay her way through college" and all will be forgotten while the bible belt attempts to sacrifice him on the alter of Republicanism. Why? Because the U.S. loves their witch hunt... as long as they're huntin' witches, they're happy. The problem is, when they run out of witches to hunt, what are they going to do with themselves?
Meanwhile, I'll sit back and roll my eyes because history has shown us that the U.S. is just that predictable.
Indeed, "According to the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, on one occasion when the Americans were breaking into UN communications, they discovered the Chinese had tried to do the same."
Guess it was not only an "attempt", they probably succeeded, they are rather skilled.
I wonder what two spies talk about when they stumble upon each other ?
"Oh Hello, you're already there ? Am I late ? What did they say until now ?"
From the article:
"According to the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, on one occasion when the Americans were breaking into UN communications, they discovered the Chinese had tried to do the same."
Why bother hacking in? The majority of it is transmitted around the world on open lines for all and sundry to see - if you know what you're doing, which the NSA does.
So over the USA.