China divided: the end is nigh (4,2,3)

I believe the answer is:

mate in two

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'divided the end is nigh' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'china' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'china' could be 'mate' ('China plate' is rhyming slang for 'mate') and 'mate' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'intwo' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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