Country with China as neighbour to north-east (5)
I believe the answer is:
nepal
'country' is the definition.
(Nepal is an example)
'neighbour to north-east' is the wordplay.
'neighbour' becomes 'pal' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'north east' becomes 'ne'.
'pal' put after 'ne' is 'NEPAL'.
'with china as' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nepal that I've seen before include "land" , "World's only Hindu kingdom" , "Asian country -- plane (anag)" , "mountainous region" , "place in the mountains ..." .)