China admitting current books have influence (8)
I believe the answer is:
militate
'influence' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are verbs in their base form.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'china admitting current books' is the wordplay.
'china' becomes 'mate' (china plate is Cockney rhyming slang for mate).
'admitting' is an insertion indicator.
'current' becomes 'I' (symbol for electric current).
'books' becomes 'lit' (abbreviation for literature).
'i'+'lit'='ilit'
'mate' placed around 'ilit' is 'MILITATE'.
'have' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for militate that I've seen before include "Bring about an effect or change" , "Have power (against)" , "Serve as strong influence against" , "Be a force (against)" , "Provide forceful evidence against" .)