Faced with the reporter's questions, the official refused to comment either way.
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From 李宝嘉's 《官场现形记》 (late Qing): '温钦差听了一笑，也不置可否' - 'Commissioner Wen listened with a smile, neither affirming nor denying'. Now standard in political and business reporting.
grammar
置 here means 'to put forward, to state'; 可否 is the binary 'yes-no'. Literally 'does not put forth yes-or-no'. The structure is fixed - never expand to 不置可不可.
