In a masterful display of word power, the government taskforce on constitutional development has effectively ruled out early full democracy while seemingly keeping the door open.
However painstakingly Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said it was impartial, the taskforce's second report published on Thursday has been clearly tilted towards the negative side of the argument for a 'one person, one vote' system by 2007.
This is manifested in the way the taskforce refers to public opinion in the nine principles Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa set out in his report that should be considered in the direction and pace of constitutional development.
Principle No6 finds public opinion lumped with other factors to be weighed when considering the 'actual situation' in society. They include economic and social conditions, political talent and groups, and the executive-legislature relationship.
The report has underlined eight other principles that should be considered when contemplating changes to the electoral methods. Underlying those principles are such notions as 'one country', 'gradual and orderly process' and balanced representation.
More than nine months after 500,000 people protested to demand greater democracy, the taskforce report and the chief executive's report to Beijing represented a further step to marginalise the voice of Hong Kong people on democratic development.
It is hardly accidental that the taskforce report did not mention the wave of public support for full democracy following the July 1 protest, nor speak highly of the importance of the government response.