Do you think the Chinese government tells their citizens that they are shamelessly "operating pseudo-blackhat hacking teams"? No, of course not, just like yout Government doesn't tell you that either. The only reason you think the West is the only trying to maintain "a sheen of legality" is that their voice is the only one you're listening to.
Uhh I don't live in a country with a great firewall. The intel agencies get criticized very heavily in my information bubble. The shady stuff the NSA does is pretty well known. It's in movies all the time too, so I'm sure the mainstream even understands that.
And yet despite all the messed up stuff they do every day they still get held to a higher standard.
