diff --git a/flink-cdc-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParser.java b/flink-cdc-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParser.java
index 8179fdbffe..aa75073373 100644
--- a/flink-cdc-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParser.java
+++ b/flink-cdc-cli/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParser.java
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ private SourceDef toSourceDef(JsonNode sourceNode) {
     private SinkDef toSinkDef(JsonNode sinkNode, SchemaChangeBehavior schemaChangeBehavior) {
         List<String> includedSETypes = new ArrayList<>();
         List<String> excludedSETypes = new ArrayList<>();
+        boolean excludedFieldNotPresent = sinkNode.get(EXCLUDE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION_TYPES) == null;
 
         Optional.ofNullable(sinkNode.get(INCLUDE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION_TYPES))
                 .ifPresent(e -> e.forEach(tag -> includedSETypes.add(tag.asText())));
@@ -191,8 +192,7 @@ private SinkDef toSinkDef(JsonNode sinkNode, SchemaChangeBehavior schemaChangeBe
                     .forEach(includedSETypes::add);
         }
 
-        if (excludedSETypes.isEmpty()
-                && SchemaChangeBehavior.LENIENT.equals(schemaChangeBehavior)) {
+        if (excludedFieldNotPresent && SchemaChangeBehavior.LENIENT.equals(schemaChangeBehavior)) {
             // In lenient mode, we exclude DROP_TABLE and TRUNCATE_TABLE by default. This could be
             // overridden by manually specifying excluded types.
             Stream.of(SchemaChangeEventType.DROP_TABLE, SchemaChangeEventType.TRUNCATE_TABLE)
diff --git a/flink-cdc-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParserTest.java b/flink-cdc-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParserTest.java
index 2ecf458707..49e984781a 100644
--- a/flink-cdc-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParserTest.java
+++ b/flink-cdc-cli/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/cdc/cli/parser/YamlPipelineDefinitionParserTest.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 package org.apache.flink.cdc.cli.parser;
 
 import org.apache.flink.cdc.common.configuration.Configuration;
+import org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType;
 import org.apache.flink.cdc.common.pipeline.PipelineOptions;
 import org.apache.flink.cdc.composer.definition.PipelineDef;
 import org.apache.flink.cdc.composer.definition.RouteDef;
@@ -37,12 +38,15 @@
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Set;
 
 import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.ADD_COLUMN;
 import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.ALTER_COLUMN_TYPE;
 import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.CREATE_TABLE;
 import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.DROP_COLUMN;
+import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.DROP_TABLE;
 import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.RENAME_COLUMN;
+import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.event.SchemaChangeEventType.TRUNCATE_TABLE;
 import static org.apache.flink.cdc.common.pipeline.PipelineOptions.PIPELINE_LOCAL_TIME_ZONE;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.AssertionsForClassTypes.assertThatThrownBy;
@@ -190,6 +194,99 @@ void testUdfDefinition() throws Exception {
         assertThat(pipelineDef).isEqualTo(pipelineDefWithUdf);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void testSchemaEvolutionTypesConfiguration() throws Exception {
+        testSchemaEvolutionTypesParsing(
+                "evolve",
+                null,
+                null,
+                ImmutableSet.of(
+                        ADD_COLUMN,
+                        ALTER_COLUMN_TYPE,
+                        CREATE_TABLE,
+                        DROP_COLUMN,
+                        DROP_TABLE,
+                        RENAME_COLUMN,
+                        TRUNCATE_TABLE));
+        testSchemaEvolutionTypesParsing(
+                "try_evolve",
+                null,
+                null,
+                ImmutableSet.of(
+                        ADD_COLUMN,
+                        ALTER_COLUMN_TYPE,
+                        CREATE_TABLE,
+                        DROP_COLUMN,
+                        DROP_TABLE,
+                        RENAME_COLUMN,
+                        TRUNCATE_TABLE));
+        testSchemaEvolutionTypesParsing(
+                "evolve",
+                "[column, table]",
+                "[drop]",
+                ImmutableSet.of(
+                        ADD_COLUMN,
+                        ALTER_COLUMN_TYPE,
+                        CREATE_TABLE,
+                        RENAME_COLUMN,
+                        TRUNCATE_TABLE));
+        testSchemaEvolutionTypesParsing(
+                "lenient",
+                null,
+                null,
+                ImmutableSet.of(
+                        ADD_COLUMN, ALTER_COLUMN_TYPE, CREATE_TABLE, DROP_COLUMN, RENAME_COLUMN));
+        testSchemaEvolutionTypesParsing(
+                "lenient",
+                null,
+                "[]",
+                ImmutableSet.of(
+                        ADD_COLUMN,
+                        ALTER_COLUMN_TYPE,
+                        CREATE_TABLE,
+                        DROP_COLUMN,
+                        DROP_TABLE,
+                        RENAME_COLUMN,
+                        TRUNCATE_TABLE));
+    }
+
+    private void testSchemaEvolutionTypesParsing(
+            String behavior, String included, String excluded, Set<SchemaChangeEventType> expected)
+            throws Exception {
+        YamlPipelineDefinitionParser parser = new YamlPipelineDefinitionParser();
+        PipelineDef pipelineDef =
+                parser.parse(
+                        "source:\n"
+                                + "  type: foo\n"
+                                + "sink:\n"
+                                + "  type: bar\n"
+                                + (included != null
+                                        ? String.format("  include.schema.changes: %s\n", included)
+                                        : "")
+                                + (excluded != null
+                                        ? String.format("  exclude.schema.changes: %s\n", excluded)
+                                        : "")
+                                + "pipeline:\n"
+                                + "  schema.change.behavior: "
+                                + behavior
+                                + "\n"
+                                + "  parallelism: 1\n",
+                        new Configuration());
+        assertThat(pipelineDef)
+                .isEqualTo(
+                        new PipelineDef(
+                                new SourceDef("foo", null, new Configuration()),
+                                new SinkDef("bar", null, new Configuration(), expected),
+                                Collections.emptyList(),
+                                Collections.emptyList(),
+                                Collections.emptyList(),
+                                Configuration.fromMap(
+                                        ImmutableMap.<String, String>builder()
+                                                .put("schema.change.behavior", behavior)
+                                                .put("parallelism", "1")
+                                                .build())));
+    }
+
     private final PipelineDef fullDef =
             new PipelineDef(
                     new SourceDef(