Also plausible is that the Americans don't want to toot their own horn (as the CIA and NSA seldom do) and the Chinese don't want to appear vulnerable and admit they were hacked. The difference in responsibilities to the people that a dictatorship and a democracy are stark, almost regardless of how broken of a democracy it is.
I am no hacking expert, but the fact that the internet is such an open place and knowledge sharing is so widespread, I would lean to the side that they have comparable hacking capabilities as America. I've yet to hear of a reason why they wouldn't other than the standard " 'Murica #1". And given a dictatorship presiding over a massive economy and a valid raison d'etre for such capabilities, there is no reason they cannot fund an equivalent of the NSA
So does the US. If you treat this as an act of war, you automatically classify any cyber operation your operatives have executed as an act of war. Against Russians, against EU countries etc. I don't think anybody really wants that.
Its a somewhat educated guess if they would but I meant who answer who might. I personally anticipate an escalation of tensions along NATO / non-NATO lines and exploitation of destabilized regions. It's almost inevitable, classic Thucydides trap combined with NATO.
Depends. Iran has (allegedly) committed what could be constituted as acts of war already. With the US in a heightened state of engagement in direct conflict with China and possibly regional actors, the Gulf of Oman seems like a great place to touch off a regional conflict.
...their population isn’t a big fan of their governance.
Why would you believe this? The last time they didn't like their government, they replaced it with the current government. Even the Ayatollah was pissed off that they mistakenly shot down a plane full of Iranians; they weren't about to curb the relatively limited public demonstrations that agreed with him on that topic.
Oh, let me guess... you learned of the average Iranian's great political discontent from the USA war media. "Wishful thinking disguised as reporting" leads to wishful thinking in place of analysis.
The CCP routinely engages in this class of behavior of salami slicing. Tiny little cuts that unto themselves wouldn’t be cause for aggression.
This is the child poking another. Violence isn’t preferable but if one refuses to correct...