You don't need to import esri api like you do for ReactJS. As the react file will finally compile into a js file you need to write the esri parts as it is and mix the ReactJS part for handling the dom node, which is the main purpose of ReactJS. 
A sample from the links below is here
define([  
   'react',  
   'esri/toolbars/draw',  
   'esri/geometry/geometryEngine',  
   'dojo/topic',  
   'dojo/on',  
   'helpers/NumFormatter'  
 ], function(  
   React,  
   Draw, geomEngine,  
   topic, on,  
   format  
 ) {  
  var fixed = format(3);  
  var DrawToolWidget = React.createClass({  
    getInitialState: function() {  
       return {  
         startPoint: null,  
         btnText: 'Draw Line',  
         distance: 0,  
         x: 0,  
         y: 0  
       };  
     },  
     componentDidMount: function() {  
      this.draw = new Draw(this.props.map);  
      this.handler = this.draw.on('draw-end', this.onDrawEnd);  
      this.subscriber = topic.subscribe(  
        'map-mouse-move', this.mapCoordsUpdate  
       );  
     },  
     componentWillUnMount: function() {  
       this.handler.remove();  
       this.subscriber.remove();  
     },  
     onDrawEnd: function(e) {  
       this.draw.deactivate();  
       this.setState({  
       startPoint: null,  
         btnText: 'Draw Line'  
       });  
    },  
    mapCoordsUpdate: function(data) {  
      this.setState(data);  
      // not sure I like this conditional check  
      if (this.state.startPoint) {  
        this.updateDistance(data);  
      }  
    },  
    updateDistance: function(endPoint) {  
      var distance = geomEngine.distance(this.state.startPoint, endPoint);  
      this.setState({ distance: distance });  
    },  
    drawLine: function() {  
      this.setState({ btnText: 'Drawing...' });  
      this.draw.activate(Draw.POLYLINE);  
      on.once(this.props.map, 'click', function(e) {  
         this.setState({ startPoint: e.mapPoint });  
         // soo hacky, but Draw.LINE interaction is odd to use  
        on.once(this.props.map, 'click', function() {  
          this.onDrawEnd();  
        }.bind(this));  
      }.bind(this))  
    },  
    render: function() {  
      return (  
        <div className='well'>  
          <button className='btn btn-primary' onClick={this.drawLine}>  
            {this.state.btnText}  
          </button>  
          <hr />  
          <p>  
             <label>Distance: {fixed(this.state.distance)}</label>  
          </p>  
        </div>  
       );  
     }  
  });  
  return DrawToolWidget;  
});  
Below are the links where you can find information in detail.
http://odoe.net/blog/esrijs-reactjs/
https://geonet.esri.com/people/odoe/blog/2015/04/01/esrijs-with-reactjs-updated