Look what I've found on a web site:
Don't believe everything you read:-)
if in doubt go back to teh definition:
http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml11-...#NT-ExternalID
[75] ExternalID ::= 'SYSTEM' S SystemLiteral
| 'PUBLIC' S PubidLiteral S SystemLiteral
which says that an ExternalID is either SYSTEM followed by a literal or
PUBLIC followed by two literals separated by white space. there is not
an option of having PUBLIC followed by just one literal. (except for the
declarations of notations which also include a special PUBLIC-only
production 83).
David