Confine in N E China, perhaps (7)
I believe the answer is:
enchain
'confine' is the definition.
(enchaining is a kind of confining)
'n e china perhaps' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' indicates anagramming the letters.
'n'+'e'+'china'='nechina'
'nechina' with letters rearranged gives 'ENCHAIN'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for enchain that I've seen before include "Make fast" , "Hold fast" , "Shackle" , "Immobilise" , "Secure" .)