Chellaney was described in
The New York Times in 1999 as "one of the independent experts who helped draft India's proposed nuclear doctrine". The country's draft nuclear doctrine was publicly released in August 1999. The institutions where he has held appointments include
Harvard University, the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the
Brookings Institution, the
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the
Johns Hopkins University, and the
Australian National University. Graham Tobin from the University of South Florida has as described Chellaney’s geopolitical analyses as astute and critical. Chellaney coined the term
debt-trap diplomacy to describe how the Chinese government leverages the debt burden of smaller countries for geopolitical ends. He saw 'debt trap diplomacy' in China's handling of Sri Lanka's debt distress by taking over its
Hambantota port on a long-term lease. The thesis caught on and began to be used widely, becoming "something approaching conventional wisdom", especially in Washington DC. Other scholars have disputed the assessment, and the "myth of debt trap", arguing that Chinese finance was not the source of Sri Lanka’s financial distress. ==Publications==