The Chinese care about every conflict they think can undermine the USA, whether internally or externally (and this can do both). So do the Russians. These are geopolitical competitors under their current governments. I'd be the first to say that, under a different regime, the Chinese very well could be a great trading partner and force for a more stable world. Under the current government, they are an increasingly isolated, troubled nation (partly because their very real internal problems make external distractions helpful to the government).
On campus, I don't think students should be punished for expressing pro-Palestinian ideas or participating in rallies or whatever. I think the college Presidents were right. The proper attack on them is that many of their institutions have not given the same leeway to right-leaning groups (even much more normal ones than the Palestinian defenders), and they should be crushed for that. I do think a lot of right-leaning thinkers and pols have figured this out and are working to generate a backlash against that behavior. I sincerely hope they don't ultimately settle for two-way censorship, the worst of all solutions.