A member of the Democratic Progressive Party's
New Tide faction, Chiu began his political career as a secretary for Taichung County Magistrate
Liao Yung-lai. He was elected to the
Legislative Yuan as a representative of
Taichung County in the
1998 elections. Reelected in 2001, Chiu stepped down in the middle of his term on 19 May 2004 to become the first vice chairman of the
Mainland Affairs Council. He left the MAC in March 2005 and declared his intention to run for the Taichung County magistracy. Chiu was replaced at the MAC by . Chiu was challenged in a party primary by
National Assemblyman
Lin Feng-hsi. Chiu defeated Lin in first round of the primary, which consisted of telephone surveys run by three separate different companies. Lin claimed that one of the three polls had been subject to a computer hardware error and should be redone. Chiu was eventually reconfirmed as the DPP candidate, and lost the December election to incumbent
Huang Chung-sheng. Following the defeat, Chiu was named a deputy mayor of Kaohsiung shortly before
Chen Chu took office as mayor in December 2006. After leaving the
Kaohsiung City Government, Chiu taught at
Asia University, eventually leading its financial and economic law department. He launched another bid for the Taichung County magistracy in 2010, and again lost to Huang Chung-sheng. The
Democratic Progressive Party considered nominating him as a candidate for a legislative seat in the 2012 elections. However, Chiu did not return to public service until 2014, when
Cheng Wen-tsan appointed him deputy mayor of Taoyuan. In March 2016, Chiu resigned his
Taoyuan City Government position to serve as a policy advisor to president-elect
Tsai Ing-wen. The next month, Chiu was named the
Minister of Justice in
Lin Chuan's incoming cabinet. He took office on 20 May 2016. Shortly after assuming his post as Minister of Justice, Chiu stated that Taiwan would maintain the death penalty. Chiu supported legislator
Tsai Yi-yu's August 2016 proposal to eliminate the Special Investigation Division. Other attempts at reform include a victims' protection initiative and setting up a legal research department to immediately send contentious court cases directly to the
Supreme Court. In February 2017, Chiu announced that the general public would be able to participate in committees convened to review the work of prosecutors. He left office in July 2018, and was named to the
National Security Council. Chiu resigned from the National Security Council on 2 April 2019, shortly after the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office charged him with influence peddling. In December 2019, Chiu was appointed to lead a Democratic Progressive Party task force convened to combat electoral fraud during the January 2020 elections. Chiu later returned to the National Security Council as a consultant, serving until February 2021, when he was named leader of the
Mainland Affairs Council. Chiu formally succeeded
Chen Ming-tong as minister of the Mainland Affairs Council on 23 February 2021. ==Personal==