Career diplomat Christopher Hill writes of North Korea’s recent nuclear test and what it means for the world community.

“Every country needs to feel the threat from North Korea, and thus to feel the need to participate in addressing it, regardless of their relationships with or attitudes about the U.S.,” writes Hill in his latest opinion piece for Project Syndicate.

“[T]he real test here may be not so much what the world will do, but rather what China, North Korea’s sole remaining ally, will do. No one expects China to resolve this problem by itself.”

Hill, currently dean of the Korbel School of International Studies at University of Denver, was U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and ambassador to Iraq, South Korea, Macedonia and Poland. He was also special envoy for Kosovo, a negotiator of the Dayton Peace Accords, and chief U.S. negotiator with North Korea from 2005-2009.