During her time at the Center for American Progress, Magsamen wrote an extensive amount of articles discussing the need for a progressive China strategy while vocally criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to China. She shared many of President Biden’s views on China. She acknowledged that the rise of China is a major geopolitical challenge for the U.S. and its allies in the 21st century. In a report she published in April 2019 with Dr. Melanie Hart, Magsamen argued that “The central contest of this century will be between the U.S. model of political and economic development and the Chinese model of political and economic development.” Meanwhile, similar to Biden, she also agrees that the competition needs not become  a zero-sum Cold War. However, she continues that the  U.S. “does need to put its own ideas on the table internationally, advocate for that vision, reassert global leadership, and rectify a pattern of serious missteps at home.”

Magsamen aligns with Biden’s goal of rallying other global democracies behind U.S. leadership. In her February 2020 SCMP article, she suggests that in order“to deal with the Chinese military threat effectively, the US needs an alliance strategy – a regional plan in which its allies work as much with each other as with us.” In an article she published on Foreign Policy in May 2019, Magsamen argued that the U.S. needs a better defensive game to address the China challenge. She recommended: 

“more dynamic screening requirements for Chinese foreign investments to minimize security risks; mandatory disclaimers on Chinese government propaganda so that people know what they are reading in their local papers; and mandatory transparency measures for Chinese funding to U.S. educational and civil society institutions so that China cannot obscure the scale of its investments. We also need an overhaul of the U.S. legal framework on foreign interference to keep pace with the growing challenge posed not just by China but by others as well. By focusing on transparency, the United States can more adequately defend itself while still adhering to its values on free speech and open markets.”