Chinese tank manufacturer Norinco is using social media to criticize the Russian T-14 Armata.

Chinese tank manufacturer Norinco is using social media to criticize the T-14 Armata and boost their tank.(BB).

China and Russia signed an agreement last month agreeing not to carry out cyber-attacks on each other. Looks like no one told China’s biggest arms maker.

Norinco is resorting to social media to lob military-grade taunts at its Russian rival’s most advanced tank. It took to popular messaging service WeChat in May to tout its top-line armored vehicles... and trash-talk the competition.

The Beijing-based company took aim at a widely reported and embarrassing incident involving the T-14 Armata, the latest product of Russia’s military machine. One of the high-tech tanks ground to an abrupt halt on Red Square during rehearsals for the 70th anniversary celebrations of World War II victory.

The jibe was particularly galling given Russia and China were allies who suffered the worst casualties in that global conflict.

“The T-14’s transmission is not well-developed, as we saw through a malfunction taking place during a rehearsal before the May 9 parade,” Norinco said in a Chinese-language post on its official WeChat account.

“The VT-4 has never encountered such problems so far. Our tanks also have world-class fire-control systems, which the Russians are still trying to catch up with.” Read the full story here.