Malaysia has finally scrapped three China-backed pipeline projects after halting work on them following the shock elections in May that saw an opposition alliance assuming power for the first time in the country, Bloomberg reports. The news followed an earlier statement by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who said during his five-day visit to China that two Chinese mega projects in Malaysia that were signed by the previous government would be deferred. Mahathir’s stunning return to power, at the age of 93, has not only shaken up the country’s domestic institutions, but it is also upending the country’s strategic alignments abroad, writes Richard Javad Heydarian for Al-Jazeera’s opinion page.