The International Confucian Association (ICA) held its President's Office Meeting for 2026 in Beijing on Jan 15. The meeting reviewed the ICA's achievements in 2025, outlined key tasks for 2026, and deliberated on membership development initiatives. Sun Chunlan, president of the ICA, addressed the meeting.

Sun noted that 2025 marked the inaugural year of the ICA's seventh term, during which the association was recognized as a top national 5A-level social organization. She highlighted the significant progress made by the association in various areas, including contributing to building China into a country with strong culture and advancing the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, which has further enhanced the ICA's influence in academic, social, and international domains.

Sun emphasized that 2026 marks the beginning of the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), calling on the ICA to actively implement the Global Civilization Initiative and fully understand the association's noble cultural mission. Designating 2026 as the "Year of Academic Quality Enhancement and International Cooperation Expansion" of the ICA, Sun outlined the goal of positioning the association as an important platform for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and international cultural cooperation.

She stressed the importance of strengthening academic research, deepening the understanding of integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China's specific realities and its fine traditional culture, and promoting major academic projects, with a particular focus on exploring and interpreting the contemporary value and global relevance of Confucianism and fine traditional Chinese culture.

Sun stated that in 2026, the ICA will actively participate in global activities commemorating the International Day for Dialogue among Civilizations by organizing events such as the 2026 Hehe Civilization Forum and the 2026 Islam-Confucianism Civilizational Dialogue.

Guided by its vision of "building an international organization with a clear mission, law-based self-governance, sound governance structures, and efficient operations", the ICA will continue to strengthen its own development, pursue innovation while staying true to its founding mission, and make greater contributions to enhancing the reach and influence of Chinese civilization and advancing the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, she added.

Hao Ping, executive vice-president of the ICA, presided over the meeting.  Other attendees included relevant ICA vice-presidents, vice-chairpersons, heads of various committees, and the secretary-general. Heads of the ICA's research bases, as well as heads of the Editorial Department of International Confucian Studies and its English edition, were also present.

The meeting approved the report on the ICA's work in 2025 and its work priorities for 2026. During the meeting, the Secretariat delivered reports on internal governance and financial management, while the Member Liaison Committee gave a briefing on membership development.

Participants engaged in discussions on enhancing the ICA's role as a key platform for mutual learning among civilizations and international cultural cooperation and on advancing the association's high-quality development.