BEIJING, Feb 22 (Reuters) - China's commerce ministry said on Thursday it hopes the European Union will strictly abide by WTO rules and conduct investigations in an open and transparent manner concerning its investigations into Chinese train maker CRRC over subsidies.

EU antitrust regulators last Friday used new tough rules to open an investigation into whether subsidies to Chinese train maker CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive may give it an unfair advantage in a Bulgarian tender for electric trains.

(Reporting by Joe Cash and Xu Jing; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)