<p>This research aims to provide an alternative understanding of Sino–European Union (EU) coopetition emergence in green industry and to evaluate its implications. Previous studies have indicated that such coopetition is shaped by various external economic and geopolitical factors. Inspired by <i>zhongyong</i> (中庸, the Doctrine of the Mean) dialectics, the study suggests that Sino–EU cooperation and competition can be reciprocally transformed even in an increasingly competitive context. An examination of the interactions among electric vehicles, photovoltaic products and critical minerals revealed that the reciprocal transformations of coopetition in green industry were driven by the proactively flexible adaptations of both China and the EU to uncertainties. Both their partnership and their antagonism were controlled by these reciprocal transformations. The Sino–EU power relationship in green industry can be reified as coevolution. It is suggested that China and the EU underwent respective self-empowerments through constant vis-à-vis learning, but they did not have to empower each other. Such coevolution suggests that both intense competition and asymmetric cooperation do not proceed linearly.</p>