The Ministry of National Defense is refusing to comment on the transit
earlier this week of a American Navy warship through the Taiwan Strait.

Private-sector observers detected the transit using commercial websites
monitoring maritime traffic posted about it on social media on Wednesday.

The page Taiwan Security Monitor on X identified the vessel as the U-S-S
William P. Lawrence - an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Taiwan Security Monitor said the transit began at 10:25PM on Tuesday, and by
10PM the following day, the vessel was located in waters off of Tainan.

The page "Taiwan A-D-I-Z" on X reported the presence of a U-S Navy MQ-4C
reconnaissance drone flying close to Taiwan proper as the U-S ship was making
the transit.

The U-S 7th Fleet, which typically issues statements about its transits
through the strait, has also not commented on the latest transit.

According to Institute for National Defense and Security Research research
fellow Su Tzu-yun, he believes the decsion for neither Taiwan or the U-S Navy
to issue any statements signales the normalization of "freedom of navigation"
in the Taiwan Strait.