ZTE Corp. replaced its board of directors on Friday to satisfy U.S. authorities’ demands and secure a deal to save the Chinese telecom giant’s stricken business, but the changes may be less sweeping than they appear, a Wall Street Journal review of corporate records found.

All 14 directors, including Chairman Yin Yimin, resigned from ZTE’s board. The company named eight new directors as part of an overhaul that includes the firing of dozens of top executives. The incoming board members, however, were handpicked by ZTE’s state-backed controlling shareholder, filings show, and the majority are veteran officials of the shareholder or its state-backed parent companies.

At least two of ZTE’s outgoing directors may also continue to wield influence over the firm because they hold stakes in a company that owns part of the shareholder, a holding company called Zhongxingxin. The U.S. Department of Commerce demanded new leadership at ZTE but it doesn’t require any executives or directors to divest stakes.

The reshuffle at ZTE may end up resembling “musical chairs,” said Mark Stokes, a former China director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “If you want real change in leadership, you’d probably have to target the actual institutions behind those people,” said Mr. Stokes, who is now executive director of the Project 2049 Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank.

The settlement sets “a new standard for protection of American technology,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement to the Journal. “Removal of the directors and executives will have a deterrent effect on other individuals at ZTE and elsewhere, by showing that violative behavior has consequences for the individuals involved,” Mr. Ross said.