Establishing 'harmonious society' and 'harmonious world' as its key national and foreign policy goal, China now wants to be a 'responsible power' for international peace and mutual prosperity. China regarded North Korea as a 'trouble maker acting arbitrarily' who hindered China's foreign policy goal to realize 'harmonious world' making international crisis more serious when North Korea launched Taepo-dong missile and tested nuclear bomb not to take account of the demand of international society include China.
Now the pragmatic leadership of China looks North Korea not as an alliance but as a normal state which China should cooperate because of its strategic interests. The reason why there is no fundamental changes in China's policy to North Korea which was neglected Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao of Chinese President and Prime Minister's demand not to test nulclear bomb is because of North Korea's strategic values.
From this point of context, China's policy to establish the 'harmonious North East Asia' is still in its initial stage. The rivaly between U.S. and China is a key factor that contraints China to pursue its 'harmonious North East Asia' initiative.