A China Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh city to Taipei was forced to make an emergency landing in southern Taiwan on Wednesday after a drunken passenger tried to attack crew members, media and a company official said.

"It was a case of a passenger behaving inappropriately after consuming alcohol," said Johnson Sun, a spokesmen for Taiwan-based China Airlines. Sun denied media reports that it was a hijacking.

Cable television channel TVBS said the passenger tried to attack crew members on the plane, forcing the pilot to stop in Kaohsiung.

The plane made an emergency landing at Hsiaokang Airport near Kaohsiung in the south, Sun said, adding that none of the passengers on board were injured aboard the flight.