Well, not reacting just encourages more attacks.

If your goal is fewer attacks,launching your own is a terrible method of achieving your goal. Even if you stop all the "enemy" attacks that doesn't mean the number has decreased.

Deterrence is a time-honored strategy. As the Romans liked to say, "if you want peace, prepare for war." It tends to prevent adversaries from miscalculating, a proximal cause of many a bloody conflict.

Launching attacks isn't deterrence. Even if your general philosophy were correct, which I disagree with, it is not one of peacefully promoting democracy and liberty.

If an undemocratic adversary is trying to gain secrets to put them at an advantage against our military, citizens, or economy, it's only fair that we do the same.

They're not going to stop trying. We shouldn't just let it happen.

If it is unacceptable for them to do it to us, it is unacceptable for us to do it to them. Stop caring only for yourself under the false guise of "democracy and liberty."