Award China's given to Malta (4)
I believe the answer is:
palm
'award' is the definition.
(I know that palm is a type of award)
'china's given to malta' is the wordplay.
'china' becomes 'pal' (china plate is Cockney rhyming slang for mate).
'given to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'malta' becomes 'm'.
'pal'+'m'='PALM'
(Other definitions for palm that I've seen before include "Symbol of victory" , "Queen; station" , "Flat part of the hand" , "prize" , "Sign of victory" .)