Strange Oriental alliance (8)

I believe the answer is:

relation

'alliance' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'strange oriental' is the wordplay.
'strange' indicates anagramming the letters.
'oriental' with letters rearranged gives 'RELATION'.

(Other definitions for relation that I've seen before include "Relative" , "wife?" , "Kinsman or kinswoman" , "One of the family" , "statement" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.

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